Secrets and Lies
by Ln X
Summary: Set in 2393, the Alpha Quadrant is a different place, and that change has also affected the main characters of Deep Space Nine. The new commander of DS9, Ezri Dax, must face not only personal problems but incoming trouble from the Cardassians as well.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Stardate: 68453.2, 1100 hours

Location: Tau Primia, M-class planet, Badlands

On top of the dusty mesa, the wind blew sand everywhere and some of it whipped into Megan Felpes's face as she looked through her optical scanner at the prison. For some time she had been doing this, all the while wearing some sort of suit which rendered her mostly invisible, although there was a faint shimmer which revealed the outline of Megan's body. Only her face was visible, and what could be seen was her lengthy brown hair, tanned skin and thin-looking face.

The prison was Cardassian controlled and even from a kilometre away it contrasted greatly with the surrounding landscape. It was a black mass in the middle of a sandstone landscape, while little pockets of dull green bushes were dotted all over the orangey red ground.

A river ran between the mesa and the prison, and on top of the mesa the bushes were a lot thicker. This provided amble cover for Megan and her fellow agent Jack Smith. However they had more than nature to hide themselves. With their camo suits and bio-dampener devices they were practically invisible to the naked eye.

Megan continued looking through the optical visor, her gaze drifted over the five metre high prison walls and into the major courtyard. Occasionally a Cardassian guard, who usually escorted a prisoner, would walk across the courtyard.

However Megan was waiting for Gul Bordak to enter the courtyard, and Bordak was the prison's prefect. Megan and Jack worked for Starfleet Intelligence and their job largely consisted of observing and tracking targets. Over the last two days, Megan had been mapping out the routine of the Cardassian guards.

Such a task was made far more easier thanks to Jack remotely hacking into the prison's computer database. Jack, with his sharp facial features, blue eyes and short black hair, was huddled over a console screen which showed the blueprint of the prison and the location of all the people inside. He to was wearing a camo suite, and that revealed a faint outline of his frame. He looked slightly hunched due to his tall and muscular frame.

As Megan observed, she thought about the mission and how pointless it seemed spying upon this prison. Sometimes though the missions Starfleet Intelligence gave to Megan made little sense to both herself and Jack. However, Megan was glad to have Jack with her as this made the job a lot more easier. Megan and Jack had worked together for close to four years in SI.

However they had known each other for over five years. At first they had a friendship and then it became a relationship. Nevertheless both had to keep this relationship a secret, for if SI ever found about the relationship Megan and Jack would never work together again.

Before Megan knew it, Bordak entered the courtyard, but he was not alone since he was talking to a humanoid.

Now this really intrigued Megan, so much so she looked a bit above the thin, binocular-shaped, optical visor she was holding. This revealed her brown eyes and a lot more of the slight frown on her face.

"Do you see that humanoid walking next to Bordak?" Megan asked quietly.

Jack moved away from the console and came over to Megan, while taking out his optical visor. "I see him, that humanoid is a Tren. Aside from occasional sightings of their ships in the Alpha Quadrant, Starfleet doesn't know anything about them. We're not even sure what a member of their species looks like... Well until now."

Megan looked through the optical visor, and quickly spotted the Tren again. She had never seen such a hideous looking humanoid, but this was mainly due to his odd facial structure. "How many Starfleet encounters with the Tren have there been?"

"Less than eight I think," answered Jack.

Megan removed her gaze from the optical visor and looked at Jack. "But that humanoid may have beamed down from a ship and there could be more like him! For we all know there could be a cloaked ship orbiting this planet!"

There was a slight hint of concern in Megan's voice and her posture tensed, though Jack did not seem perturbed by this. "I don't see how they can detect us," he said calmly. "They would have to walk into us to spot us, so don't worry we're safe here."

At this Megan relaxed somewhat, she never liked the unexpected and in Starfleet Intelligence the unexpected could harm you or worse...

* * *

Bordak leaned back into his chair after reading the daily report on the status of the prisoners. He was quite tall, thin and his face was very twisted. Bordak's face almost had a certain gaunt and reptilian quality about it, and for a Cardassian his facial ridges were unusually pronounced.

It was hard work for Bordak being the prefect of this prison. Even the prisoners needed rudimentary provisions, some food, water, and the cold floor of a prison cell to sleep on. Whenever he could, he always tried to find time to torture the prisoners, enemies of Cardassia did not deserve mercy or compassion.

The five Cardassian ships under his command were his most important assets, he used them to attack ships passing through the Badlands. Outsiders thought that many of the disappearances in the Badlands were due to the region's ferocious plasma storms, but Bordak knew better.

It was his ships which were responsible for most of the disappearances. This was how he kept the prison full of prisoners by capturing the crew of these ships. Through this process, Bordak had acquired all sorts of prisoners: humans, Klingons, Ferengi, Bajorans, Starfleet officers, slaves, and even a Bajoran vedek.

On one occasion, Bordak and his men captured a shapeshifter. It was an interesting challenge trying to imprison a shapeshifter. After torture, attacking unsuspecting ships was his second favourite activity.

However, Bordak did not look forward to the afternoon as the Tren captain Abarzjid was visiting the prison. Bordak felt certain that Abarzjid wanted to add some extra provisions to the long-standing deal that the two had reached.

The Tren supplied Bordak, and the men under his command, with all the supplies necessary to run and defend the prison. In return Bordak sometimes had to hand over some of the high value prisoners, something which he was reluctant to do. But Tren weaponry had the worth of a hundred high value prisoners, so it was a reasonable price to pay.

The door to his office opened, and one of his Glinn's came into the office.

"Sir, captain Abarzjid has arrived. He asks to speak with you immediately."

Bordak sighed in annoyance, and he hated Abarzjid's presumptuous manner. "Inform Abarzjid that I will come in five minute's time," he answered struggling to keep out the irritation in his voice. "Dismissed."

The Glinn left the office, he seemed to sense his commanding officer's dissatisfaction.

Getting to his feet, Bordak slowly made his way out of the office, since he was in no rush. Indeed what he really wanted was to sit down, relax, and drink some kanar. He had just spent three hours torturing a prisoner and he was tired from all that work.

Bordak left his office feeling greatly resentful of Abarzjid's contemptuous and arrogant manner towards him. The day when he did not have to converse with Abarzjid was a very welcome one indeed, however unlikely it seemed...

Bordak entered the outer part of the courtyard, his footfalls echoing off the stony floor which comprised of black flagstones. It was a sheltered area with severe-looking ceramic columns holding up the four-metre high roof. The inner part of the courtyard had three sides surrounded by the prison buildings, while the outer wall bounded the fourth side.

In the inner part there was a small fountain in the middle, gushing water via a holographic generator. Though the water may not have been real, the sound it made when it fell into the pool was very real indeed.

Abarzjid was waiting at one end of the courtyard, and as Bordak walked closer to the Tren he noticed that Abarzjid looked just as bored as he felt.

"Captain," said Bordak trying to sound as polite as possible. "How was the trip from... well wherever it is that you come from?"

"The same Bordak," Abarzjid replied, he sounded bored out of his mind. "The same monotonous sights that I have seen for the last eight years of my assignment."

"Of course, how foolish of me," said Bordak, while a faint smile lingered on his face. "But we Cardassians have a thing for manners and decorum."

"And torture, cruelty and back-stabbing," said Abarzjid quietly.

"Now come on captain," said Bordak, his voice rife with mock indignation. "Aside from your tasteless remarks, what is your business here?"

Abarzjid scowled at Bordak before replying. "I-that is to say the Tren military-want forty of your prisoners for..." Abarzjid paused, searching for a reason. "Let's say 'medical' purposes for-"

"Why so many prisoners?" interrupted Bordak. "The deal was I captured people, crews and so forth from within the Badlands, and handed them over to you. In exchange my unit received Tren weaponry for our troubles... So what has changed now?"

"Nothing has changed," Abarzjid hissed, showing his sharp teeth. "The Tren military have benefited from your little rebel shenanigans, we are only extending the terms of your deal-"

All of a sudden, the sound of an explosion muted Abarzjid's voice. Bordak instantly crouched down as he felt a terrific streak of heat run across his back. "Get down and take cover!" he yelled.

Behind his back one of the courtyard's columns had been damaged badly, and where the phaser beam had struck, a thin layer of molten metal oozed from the struck part of the column.

When Bordak got to his feet, he was pleased to see that Abarzjid looked a little shaken. However his vindictive pleasure rapidly faded when he heard the sizzling noise coming from the column. He had escaped death by millimetres, but where was the shooter?

Bordak quickly looked around, someone had definitely fired a phaser beam, more than likely tracerless, and that someone could only be outside the prison... Instinctively Bordak knew that he had to get inside immediately. "Someone is firing from outside of this prison!" he warned Abarzjid. "Come on, get inside!"

With the initial shock wearing off, rage built up inside Bordak. Who had the audacity to attack his prison and try to kill him? Was this some sort of botched assassination attempt on Starfleet's part?

In any case, the prison sensors would have detected the beam, and the telemetry of the heat signature would give the location of where the beam originated. Moreover, when Bordak captured whoever it was who tried to assassinate him, he would punish them severely...

* * *

Megan was still observing Bordak when first she heard the sound of a silenced phaser, and that tell-tale soft whooshing sound. Then from her optical visor she saw an explosion come from one of the prison courtyard's columns. She noticed that Abarzjid and Bordak had crouched down immediately.

She turned around and there she spotted Jack holding a phaser rifle, aiming it at the prison. Briefly Megan was frozen with shock and she could not believe what she had just witnessed. "What are you doing?" she yelled in a horrified manner.

Jack did not reply and Megan rushed towards him, manhandling the rifle off Jack. She disregarded it and whipped out her own type-2 phaser. "You tried to kill Bordak, why?" she demanded, though her voice shook a little with shock.

Jack looked at her, his face expressionless. "We need to get out of here before the Cardassians detect us."

Anger flared up inside of Megan, it was such a pathetic answer and she felt like she was talking to a stranger... "We're not going anywhere until you answer my questions!" she said sharply. "Whom are you working for?"

Jack did not respond and instead moved closer to her.

"Don't move!" she warned.

Something like fear crept into Jack's face, and he looked at Megan rather intently. "In less than two minutes the Cardassians would have worked out where the phaser round came from. In another minute Cardassian soldiers will beam down onto our position, so we need to get of out here now!"

Jack said the last couple of words with incredible force, as if ordering Megan to leave.

Megan made a split second judgement, clearly escape was a lot more important than questioning Jack. "Pack up the equipment," she ordered.

Jack worked at a break-neck speed packing away the various devices and gadgets into a container.

Megan was absently-mindedly sorting out her own equipment, but she never turned her gaze away from Jack, and after what he did she could never trust him again. After two minutes of frenzied packing and clearing up their spot, she and Jack were ready to go.

They both froze when they heard the sound of transport beams close to their location. Megan knew the Cardassians could not see them or physically detect them, but even so...

She signalled to Jack, and he got the message, both she and Jack were activating their site-to-site transporter devices on their wrists.

Suddenly the Cardassians started shooting randomly into the bushes Megan and Jack were hiding in. Megan dropped down to prone and her hand flew from the transporter device on her wrist to her hip-mounted phaser, which was set on stun.

The Cardassian guards continued firing, setting the bushes nearby on fire.

Smoke clogged up Megan's mouth and nose. There was nothing for it, they were going to have to shoot their way out of this situation. She nodded to Jack and they both fired at different guards.

The two Cardassian guards crumpled and fell to the floor. The remaining Cardassian guards concentrated their fire on Jack's position. He was only ten feet away from Megan, and he just looked at Megan, and she knew that Jack was staying here to cover for her.

"Go!" Jack shouted. "I'll hold them off!"

For a brief moment Megan paused and realised that Jack really did care for her. She cleared her head and activated the site-to-site transporter. The last thing she saw, as her body disappeared, was a phaser beam striking Jack. She yelled out his name, but no sound came out of her mouth.

* * *

Megan materialised, she held her phaser out expecting to be fired upon at any moment, but there was nobody around. She spotted the Starfleet runabout ten metres to her left. It seemed the Cardassians had not bothered to beam over to the runabout, not yet anyway.

The runabout was close to a series of lakes, and these lakes were enclosed on three sides by massive sandstone mountains and cliffs. Rainforest clung to the edge of the lakes and stretched some distance up the vast slopes. Rainforests were a rare sight on Tau Primia found only in canyons and vast gorges where the low water table permitted.

Megan removed her camo suite and stuffed it into the case she was carrying. Free of the camo suit she approached the runabout, and desperately thought up some sort of explanation to Ensign Cotore, who was inside the runabout.

Since she was also a Starfleet officer, Megan usually kept secret to everyone else that she worked with Starfleet Intelligence. In between SI missions, she served on-board various starships. For the last six months, she had been stationed on the USS Liberty.

Usually wherever she was assigned to Jack was assigned to the same ship. Her official mission, the cover for the SI mission, was to conduct a geological survey of a site half of a kilometre from the runabout.

Only the Liberty's captain, Catherine Haydra, had knowledge of the SI mission. Megan had never carried out an SI mission while still serving onboard the starship she had been posted. Moreover that fact did not bode too well with her...

Now that her actual mission had gone terribly wrong, she realised that her top priority was to warn the Liberty about the Cardassians. Megan presumed that the Cardassians must have at least one warship, and the Liberty was out there completely unaware of the danger...

She opened the runabout's hatch. The hatch was halfway open when Megan nimbly bend down a bit, and went through to the runabout compartment. The moment she was inside she closed the hatch, trying to make as little noise as possible. In a stealthy manner she walked through the dimly lit storage compartment and entered the cockpit.

Ensign Cotore was at the front operating the controls. She heard Megan and turned around. "Commander?" Cotore inquired, looking rather startled. "What's going on? Where is Jack?"

Megan sat down, taking a chair next to Cotore. "Cardassians, they've captured Jack," she said briskly. "We have to get off this planet immediately!"

"Cardassians?" said Cotore, sounding disbelieving. "But how did-"

Cotore then dropped the question she was so desperate to ask and followed Megan's order. "Aye sir."

As Megan sat back in her chair, she contemplated what Jack had recently done. He tried to assassinate Gul Bordak, there was no warning and no reason for doing so. So why did he do it? Despair gripped Megan, she thought she knew Jack, and it seemed like a lifetime ago that she had once trusted him and loved him.

Now Jack had betrayed that trust. Megan was so troubled she did not even feel the runabout taking off and travelling up into the planet's atmosphere. Megan looked out of the cockpit window and watched the planet growing smaller. It was a big mass of red mixed with orange, with clumps of water and streaks of green vegetation.

Megan was deep in thought when Cotore spoke. "What happened down there?"

It was more than a question, and there was something almost accusatory in Cotore's voice.

Megan quickly reverted back into her alert mode. "Jack and I were carrying out the geological survey..." She paused as she tried to construct a story. "But... I sensed that someone was watching me... I turned around and I saw Cardassian soldiers approaching my position."

Cotore looked shocked. "How did the Cardassians detect you?"

"I'm not sure," said Megan, pretending to look confused. "I managed to escape, but Jack was captured... I don't know if they killed him afterwards..."

Megan sincerely hoped Jack was not dead, though at the very least Cotore seemed satisfied with Megan's answers. Cotore remained silent throughout the duration of the journey to the Liberty, and this allowed Megan some much needed time to think.

* * *

Megan watched as the Liberty filled up the entire view from the cockpit windows. The ship loomed over the runabout, and seeing the ship so close brought back to Megan full force her worries for the Liberty's safety.

If the Cardassians on Tau Primia had even one warship, then the Liberty would be attacked in a matter of minutes. The Liberty was an Intrepid-class starship, and most of the Intrepid class of starships had been decommissioned two years ago due to obsolete weaponry and shielding.

Ultimately the Intrepid class of starships were for deep-space missions, however after Starfleet cut the number of deep-space missions by more than a halve, the Intrepid ships were just not needed any more. However the Liberty had been upgraded and retrofitted with tertiary shielding, adamantium armour, phaser banks and mark eight torpedoes; as per standard starship defences.

The moment the runabout had docked at the Liberty's shuttle bay, did Megan dash out of the runabout and practically run towards the nearest turbo lift. She ignored the staring of her fellow crew members, and Megan felt like time was running twice as fast.

One moment she was on the turbo lift the next she was walking onto the bridge, as time just blurred and compressed... She addressed the officer at the helm. "Ensign Tabor, set a course to Deep Space Nine at once, maximum warp."

"Why sir?" said Tabor sounding confused.

"Just do it Ensign!" Megan ordered.

"But the captain..." Tabor trailed off, as captain Haydra entered the bridge.

Haydra was a human woman who was small and thin with long red hair which was always, when on duty, tied in a bun. At the first sign of trouble, she was on the Liberty's bridge in a matter of moments.

Haydra strode calmly towards Megan. "Commander what is going on here?"

"Cardassians sir," Megan said. "The Cardassians detected us so..."

Sitting down in the captain's chair, Haydra signalled to Megan to sit down. Haydra then shifted in her seat to better face her first officer. "You were detected?" she whispered.

Megan nodded, and she could see Haydra quickly considering up her options.

"This changes everything," said Haydra though more to herself. "Ensign Tabor, carry out the first officer's order..."

Haydra's voice was light but commanding, and Tabor was equally prompt in his response, his hands flew across his console as he moved the Liberty away from Tau Primia.

Now Haydra turned to face Megan again. "Commander," she said quietly. "What on Earth happened down there...?"

Lieutenant Commander Abrahm, who was behind of Haydra and to her right, interrupted the captain, as he looked at his console. "Captain! There are two Cardassian ships... decloaking!" There was surprise in his voice. "They are directly in front of us!"

"Decloaking?" Haydra asked, though her voice remained steady, hiding her surprise. "Hail them!" she ordered.

On the view screen appeared Gul Bordak, who was standing on his ship's bridge. Bordak smiled in a unpleasant manner, though his eyes were burning with rage. "Greetings captain, I am Gul Bordak the prefect of the Tau Primia prison camp."

His voice took on a more menacing tone. "You have trespassed in Cardassian space. Because of this transgression you will now, unfortunately, be destroyed."

The transmission ended, and Haydra stood up from her chair, looking a bit incensed. "Now wait just one moment-"

The whole bridge suddenly shook, as the Cardassian ships bombarded the Liberty with phaser fire and photon torpedoes. Consoles everywhere exploded as EPS conduits blew out. Bulkheads dislodged, one of them collapsing upon Tabor, crushing him.

Megan clung on to her chair for dear life. Suddenly her chair gave way, as a bulkhead came crashing down, displacing the chair and herself. She was thrown onto the floor. Suddenly she could not hear any more, as her ears were ringing.

Time seemed to slow as the ship continued to shake and fires burned on the bridge. Darkness was mingled with fires, and when the red emergency lightening came on, this provided further illumination to a scene of complete devastation.

The shaking stopped, and Megan slowly got herself onto her feet. She looked around and saw dead bodies all around her. Some were burnt, others twisted and bloodied, some of them were still on fire. Shock threatened to paralyse Megan, and then she saw someone moving on the floor.

It was Haydra, there were cuts all over her face and her bun had collapsed. Her long hair came loose and it fell to the middle of her back. "Damage report!" Haydra ordered, who appeared completely oblivious to her physical appearance.

"Captain they're all dead!" was the first thing Megan could say.

Megan stopped panicking, and she pulled herself together, Haydra's calmness was her courage. So Megan went over to the closest functional console. "There's massive damage to pretty much everyone of the ship's systems! No shields, phaser banks are depleted, the ship's computer is heavily damaged, and the warp core is moderately damaged-containment holding-barely, and captain..."

She looked up from the console. "We're being boarded!"

It was hard to tell under the flashing red lights, but Haydra appeared suddenly pale from worry.

Haydra tapped the small console on the commander's chair left armrest, to address the Liberty's crew. "This is captain Haydra to all crew members. We are being boarded by the Cardassians!"

Still Haydra's voice remained as calm as ever. "Evacuate the ship immediately, open fire on the Cardassians if they try to stop you."

"Captain," protested Megan, "we don't stand a..."

Megan stopped talking as five Cardassians, including Bordak, transported unto the bridge.

Haydra lurched for her phaser beneath her chair but the Cardassian guards snatched it off her. Totally outgunned and outnumbered, Haydra simply stood where she was while Megan froze.

"Captain what an unfortunate situation..." said Bordak with chilling sarcasm.

"Unfortunate?" shouted Haydra, anger in every syllable, and she was full of a righteous rage. "You attack my ship, kill my crew, and you say-"

Bordak interrupted Haydra. "If you surrender yourself I will let the survivors escape-unharmed-you have my word."

"And what do you want from me?" asked Haydra, and her anger started to ebb.

"You'll soon find out..." said Bordak, who almost seemed to be teasing Haydra. "I also want your first officer to..."

"Megan?" Haydra interrupted.

"Why yes," replied Bordak silkily. "After all it was your first officer and her accomplice who were spying on my prison, and who tried to assassinate me."

Bordak's voice went suddenly harsh. "They will pay the price for their attempt on my life!"

Haydra's composure slipped, and she stared at Megan with a terrible pained expression. At that moment, Megan found it impossible to look at Haydra.

"Is this true Megan?" Haydra said imploringly, as if hoping Bordak was making this all up. "Did you really-"

A Cardassian swung his phaser rifle hard into the back of Haydra's head, and she fell to the floor unconscious.

Megan felt a terrible guilt growing inside her. If she had only realised what Jack was planning to do, then the Liberty would never have been attacked by the Cardassians. Slowly and carefully, Megan moved closer to Bordak, she then stopped and looked at him imploringly. She was ready to die to protect her crew mates.

"Please let the survivors go," she pleaded. "They're innocent, take me... not them please..."

However Bordak was not persuaded, instead he looked triumphant and seemed to savour the despair on Megan's face. He whipped out a communicator. "Troops!" he said, while holding the communicator to his mouth. "Capture all the survivors, those that resist kill them! Let us show them some of our famous Cardassian hospitality..."

Bordak ended the communication with a brief but evil bout of laughter.

Terror filled up Megan's heart, this could not be happening... This could not be real... "Please!" she screamed.

The last thing Megan saw was a Cardassian guard swinging the butt of his gun to her face...

Blackness followed...

* * *

**Two years later...**

Stardate: 70461.8

Location: Cardassia Prime, capital city, Cardassian Senate

Few Cardassians ever set foot inside the Cardassian Senate, this was a place where the political elite conglomerated, and the elite deeply distrusted humans and that interfering Federation.

Yet a human was walking down a long and thin corridor, lit up by green lighting which tinged the colour of the orange/brown walls. Any human to even set foot on Cardassian soil would have been killed on sight.

However, Timothy Rooter was the exception, he was the head of Section 31, and he had strong connections with president Garak. Rooter had about a dozen or so meetings with Garak, but every meeting was important. Indeed it unofficially determined the diplomatic status between the Federation and the Cardassian Union.

Despite all of that, this meeting was different, the stakes were not nearly so high. Nevertheless, should this meeting be successful Rooter would get something he had wanted for a long time.

Arriving at the president's office, the Cardassian guards accompanying Rooter stopped. Another guard stood directly outside the office's door and scanned Rooter.

The guard nodded once. "All clear," he replied.

The guard then tapped his communicator. "President, the Head of Section 31 Timothy Rooter is here at the designated time for the private meeting."

"Send him in," said the voice coming from the communicator.

At once, the guard opened the office door and Rooter casually strolled in, while the guard closed the door. Rooter came to a stop a metre away from Garak's desk.

In a small motion, Rooter inclined his head. "President," he said blandly.

"Mr. Rooter," Garak replied, with a slight nod of his head before sitting back down on his desk chair.

Garak's office was very spacious but spartan, and behind Garak, there was a window that stretched across the width of the office. It revealed a cloudy day outside, and the greyness blended in with the dull colours of the capital city. The Cardassian Senate was the tallest building in the city, and so this office offered a great view of the capital.

There was a silence between the two, though Garak soon broke the silence. "Your arrival is most unexpected Mr. Rooter, so what is it now that you want from me?"

Rooter frowned slightly before responding. "I have a problem which only you can solve, and you can think of it as like a deal."

"Indeed," intoned Garak. "But every deal has a price Mr. Rooter, but do go on... You have my full attention."

Ignoring Garak's sarcasm, Rooter went on to explain the issues at hand. "The problem is basically this; Federation and Cardassian relations are frosty, and the whole lot of Federation diplomats can be damned if they think this situation can be improved. However, two things have caught my attention. The Federation is still, vainly, trying to pressure your government to continue to democratise...

"Now you and I both know that to cave in to such a demand would be political suicide, your government would not survive the military backlash. Secondly there is the Tau Primia incident and one of my best agents was captured because of it. I wouldn't be that concerned if a Starfleet ship was lost due to some one-off incident, but we both know what Tau Primia contains..."

It was a concise summary of the problems that had plagued Cardassian and Federation relations for the last fifteen years. Garak however looked slightly uneasy. "If you're talking about Gul Bordak-"

However, Rooter interrupted Garak, and he had to get this point over to the president. "If you could authorise for Gul Bordak's arrest, then I could get the leverage needed to... Let's just say convince some of the admirals to launch a joint Federation and Cardassian strike force to shut down that prison camp, and free the poor souls being daily tortured in that hell-hole, while also bringing Gul Bordak to justice."

There was silence after this, and Rooter could see Garak digesting the implication of his request.

Garak though stared coldly back at Rooter. "The Cardassian military is somewhat unhappy with my style of leadership, and arresting Gul Bordak would only provoke a possible coup. He is still a popular former Gul, and he instigated the Arrettia massacre. Because of that he has got too many friends in high-"

Once more Rooter interrupted Garak. "Not if he were a traitor."

"Traitor?" Garak blandly repeated.

Rooter smiled slightly, _time to wrap up the deal_ he thought. "Its simple really; you get the Obsidian Order to dig up some dirt on Bordak's image, and the seeds of doubt will be sown amongst the guls and legates in the Central Command. It is a win-win situation: the Federation would approve of this newfound cooperation and it will definitely approve of the arrest of Bordak who is a mass-murderer in their eyes. While at the same time you would have removed one of your biggest threats to your government!"

Another silence followed, though Rooter could tell Garak was looking for some sort of flaw to his solution.

"So the Federation will ease its calls for a proper Cardassian democracy?" Garak inquired, giving Rooter a piercing stare. "And Bordak is no more?"

"Yes," answered Rooter smugly.

"Very clever Mr. Rooter," Garak replied. "What seems to be a perfect plan seems just that. But if this is a set-up you will feel Cardassia's wrath."

Anger then briefly flared across Garak's face. "The Badlands will fall into Cardassian hands, and perhaps even DS9."

Rooter knew that Garak was sincere in this threat, but he kept his face as mask-like as possible so as to not give Garak the pleasure of having troubled him.

Garak continued and his voice became more musing. "But there is something you have not told me. You know that the Tren are in contact with Bordak, are you prepared to risk war with a race that may be more powerful than the Federation?"

Here was a potential problem that Rooter had not considered properly. "I don't think the Tren would react that way," he said, as he stared past Garak. "They are scouting our galaxy yes, but is this the prelude to invasion? Well... that is for the future isn't it?"

Rooter hoped that this would ease Garak's concerns about the Tren.

"Indeed," said Garak, sounding a bit vague. "Very well then, I will fulfil my end of the agreement. When I have arranged certain matters in the Cardassian Union, then I will travel to Deep Space Nine to present to the Federation this proposal. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

"No there isn't," said Rooter, and he rose from the chair. "I think it is high time that I get back to my ship."

"Of course," said Garak. "It is always a pleasure doing business with you."

Garak's slightly sarcastic tone indicated otherwise, but Garak appeared reasonably satisfied with the outcome to the meeting. He remained seated as he called in the Senate guards. "Guards, escort Mr Rooter out of the Senate and back to his transporter site."

Before departing, Rooter gave a brief nod to Garak and then followed the guards out of the office. The meeting went exactly to plan, and this was the first step necessary to freeing one of his most valuable Section 31 agents... _If_, he thought bitterly, _the Cardassians on Tau Primia haven't executed the agent!_

Though he would find out in a matter of days about the agent's condition when the rescue operation took place...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Stardate: 70467.0

Day 1, 0900 hours

Stepping off the last bit of the Teflon's docking hatch, Ezri walked onto the airlock, and onto Deep Space Nine. She shifted the shoulder strap of her duffel bag, as she walked, and with each step it brought more familiarity to her. It felt symbolic to her that she had left one type of life behind and was returning to another. She had checked the station personnel files and found that Kira, Odo, Bashir and Nog were still working on the station.

Though the main reason for her wanting to return to DS9, was to become the station's commander, another reason was to talk to some friends she had not spoken with in years. She wished she had stayed in contact with Kira, who Ezri considered as one of her best friends, but more than anything else Ezri hoped to bury the hatchet with Bashir.

The last time they had spoken together was about fourteen years ago, and even then nothing was resolved. Perhaps now Bashir would want to settle their long-standing differences…

The moment Ezri walked out of the inner airlock door, did a person speak to her left.

"Dax?" said the person.

Turning around, Ezri saw Nog and his face seemed to have barely changed, though his rank had; he was now lieutenant commander. "That's captain Dax," she told Nog, "I'm here to take over command of this station."

"Of course..." said Nog more seriously, and he stood stiffly at attention. "Well it's good to see you back captain."

"At ease commander..." said Ezri with a smile, as she remembered that habit of Nog of being very formal with his commanding officers. "Looks like you've been promoted as well, lieutenant commander?"

Nog's posture relaxed, indeed his eyes were focused mainly on the four silver pips on Ezri's collar. "A lot has happened on this station since you left it."

"I'm sure it has."

"Erm... captain, do you know the way to Ops?"

"I still remember this place like it were yesterday..." said Ezri with a mild fondness.

"Good..." said Nog, and he took a few steps to the airlock door. "Well it was nice talking to you captain, but I need to check the inventory list for supplies being shipped from the Teflon."

With that Nog left Ezri, and she smiled to herself. That was not so bad, though she did notice that Nog behaved a bit differently now that she was a captain. Mind you Ezri herself had changed considerably, no longer was she daunted by the Dax symbiont, she had found equilibrium with Dax. Now she had some of her former host's wisdom, maturity and casual nature. Still she was Ezri Dax, and unlike Jadzia was not so inclined to follow Dax's impulses…

The first thing she would do was to meet up with captain Stoner in his quarters. Stoner was leaving the station, and though Ezri had been given command of it, she and Stoner had to perform the traditional Starfleet ceremony of where one captain relieved the other one and took over command. When Stoner had left, she would be taking up his quarters.

With the ceremony out of the way, Stoner would promptly leave the station, and Ezri would be taking over the reins. A task she was looking forward to…

* * *

Kira was waiting inside the turbolift as it proceeded to Ops, though she felt a little uneasy. She had one last meeting with captain Stoner; the commander of DS9, someone whom she deeply disliked.

Though she had no idea who would replace Stoner. She wished fifteen years ago she had not stepped down as commanding officer and returned to her former post as second in command. Yet that was not to be since raising a family took precedence, and being the commanding officer meant an increased workload.

Over a period of fifteen years, she had tolerated and worked with a string of Starfleet captains and commanders. They had come and gone and they were never really interested in running DS9 as there heart was never in it. At least with Sisko he actually cared about the job at hand.

The turbo lift stopped, interrupting her reverie. She stepped out into Ops and crossed over to the other side where the commander's office was. She did not bother to chime the door, Stoner did not deserve that sort of respect.

She stepped inside the office and only stopped when she was a metre away from Stoner's desk. Stoner did not look up and instead, he was sitting on the chair concentrating on the padd in his left hand.

_Or pretending to concentrate_ thought Kira.

"I must say that I am very glad to leave this place," said Stoner, though he was not looking at Kira.

"And why is that sir?" she replied.

Stoner turned around to look at Kira. "I'll be frank, it is you colonel who I don't like," he said with some bitterness. "Your arrogance and presumption are more than I can bear."

Kira's expression barely changed but she was inwardly raging. "Arrogance?" she mused. "That's a pretty bold thing to say for a man who for two years has deliberately made sure that the Federation still runs DS9, and for a man who thinks my people are worshipping false gods."

Kira may have exaggerated somewhat however it had the desired effect of making Stoner look briefly uncomfortable. "I never said it like that," he said irritably.

"You have, don't deny it," she said fiercely, and the anger now showed on her face. "You claim tolerance of a race's religious views, yet privately you disapprove of them. I am not annoyed at what the Federation is doing, I am annoyed at your hypocrisy and duplicity-"

Stoner lost his temper. "For God's sake!" he shouted. "Why..." he lowered his voice. "Why do you take personal affront at every Federation captain and commander who has managed DS9?"

"Is it because they are not Sisko, not your beloved Emissary?" he added nastily.

"It's because," retorted Kira, "every one of those captains and commanders have simply come and gone. There heart was never in it, with Sisko he was determined to make a difference and to help Bajor. All you and your predecessors have done is pretty much nothing!"

Her voice sounded heated, but at least she had not shouted.

"Fine we will leave it like that," replied Stoner and he was almost sulking. "I sure hope the next captain can tolerate your hot-headedness."

"Who is the next captain?" Kira asked in what she hoped was a polite voice.

Stoner stood up and ignored Kira's question, he had almost left the office when he stopped and responded to her question. "You'll find out soon enough..."

He left the room and Kira watched him leave Ops. Part of her was deeply grateful that he was gone, another part was furious at his disrespectful manner towards her. She vented out her feelings and slammed her fist on the captain's desk out of sheer frustration.

When she had let her resentment of Stoner subside she picked up one of the padds Stoner had left behind, it was chock full of administration work and data. _Great, Stoner didn't bother to do the administrative work..._

The minutes past by, however Kira's reading of this padd was interrupted when the door chimed. "Come in."

A voice spoke behind her. "Kira?"

Kira turned around and there was Ezri standing by the doorway, and Kira felt stunned. "Ezri? Why are you on this station?"

"I'm here to take command of this station," Ezri explained. "I just got promoted to a captain, and I specially requested a posting here."

Kira mulled this over. "To tell you the truth my opinion of the Federation, and of there captains, is pretty low at the moment."

"I could tell," said Ezri with a knowing look in her eye. "I had a quick chat with captain Stoner about matters... Now I'm not Sisko, and I have my own command style. But I promise to you that I will not be like the commanders and captains you've worked for previously."

"Well I'll see how this works out first but..."

With a sigh, Kira ceased talking and she just looked at Ezri. This Trill woman used to be a close friend of Kira's but that was seventeen years ago. Since then, she had only seen Ezri for a period of a few days about fourteen years ago. "How come you never stayed in contact with me over the last seventeen years?" she inquired. "I thought we were friends. I thought you cared. Why didn't you stay in touch?"

Kira had to say these things to Ezri, just to get these pressing matters out of her heart.

"I..." started Ezri, and her composure slipped a little in awkwardness. "I'm afraid I don't want to talk about that, not about something so personal..."

That was a rebuff and both Kira and Ezri knew it. "Fair enough..." said Kira. "Is there anything else captain...?"

There was a brief pause before Ezri responded. "No colonel, dismissed."

Kira walked out of Ezri's office. She did not know what to feel, there was something different about Ezri, she seemed more mature, more serious. Instinctively Kira knew that Ezri would be far easier to work with than Stoner, but there was emotional baggage, and Kira knew of one person who would not at all be pleased to see Ezri again...

* * *

Ezri looked out of the window, sitting in the desk chair, and staring out into the vast and open frontier. She had been recently promoted to a captain and she could have chosen any position to command, but she had to pick DS9. _What was I thinking?_ she thought angrily.

The conversation with Kira had brought up many bad memories for Ezri, and only now did she appreciate just how bad and rotten she felt about them. Ever since her break-up with Bashir, seventeen years ago, she had left DS9 and ignored her personal problems. She used her career as an excuse to forget about them. Now here she was as a Starfleet captain and still the regrets of the past lingered more strongly than ever...

The biggest one was leaving Bashir, and Ezri remembered the terrible row they had; and her running out of Bashir's quarters crying her eyes out. She left DS9 the following day, just like that.

But Ezri had to return here, and to correct the mistakes she made with Bashir and her friends. She could see the disappointment in Kira's eyes when she evaded Kira's question. 'I thought we were friends' Kira had said. iFriends... Friends whom I lost contact with/i.

There last encounter was when Ezri served on the starship Proxima, during the middle of the Corneria war, a war between the Federation and the Breen Confederacy. The Proxima had made a docking on DS9, and in those few days, Ezri had some good conversations with Kira, and she got to hold Mia, who was just a little baby back then. But for some reason Ezri just never find the will to contact Kira or even send subspace letters.

Kira was right, in essence it had been virtually seventeen years of zero contact, and with a horrible guilty feeling, Ezri knew she had been a pretty lousy friend to Kira. Of course Ezri felt even worse as she recalled her last encounter with Bashir during the time she was temporarily on DS9. Nothing had changed then, and Ezri really hoped things between herself and Bashir would not remain that way.

Somehow she would make amends, and she was determined to do so. She looked at the padd on the desk, and started looking at the administrative arrangements on board DS9. The first thing she needed to do was call a senior staff meeting; and set out a new organisational structure. But not just yet, tomorrow she would set to work on that task.

* * *

A young man walked out of the docking ring doors, and he had come to DS9 on the Teflon. He had also caught a brief glimpse of the new commander of DS9 since he had done some checking in the Starfleet database. However, he was not a man, he was a hologram, but just like a man he was sentient.

The only reason he existed outside of a holosuite was because of the inbuilt mobile holographic emitter. This gave him freedom of mobility, and it gave him a life. He was a Starfleet officer and he called himself Holo for that was his true essence; a hologram. Moreover, being a hologram had its advantages, his holo matrix could store a huge quantity of data, and he could live in virtually any environment.

He then headed to Ops, after locating where Ezri was on board the station, as he had to be debriefed by Ezri first before he could start his new assignment as chief of starship maintenance. As part of Holo's new job, he had to report to Nog who was chief of operations.

Arriving at Ops, nobody turned to look at him, and he walked over to the captain's office.

"What are you doing?" asked a human officer.

"I'm the new head of starship maintenance," replied Holo.

The officer checked his console. "You're called Holo aren't you? You are a hologram right?"

Holo nodded.

The officer held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you," he said. "I'm Max Weatherby, this station's chief of science."

Holo was surprised at the officer's friendliness but he shook the officer's hand none the less.

"You look surprised how come?" asked Max.

"It's just few people treat me like a sentient being, well not at first anyway."

"I've worked with holograms similar to you before," said Max. "I know you are sentient beings, and not just a collection of photons and EM fields. By the way, the captain is waiting for you."

Max returned to his console, and without further delay, Holo entered the commander's office.

Ezri looked up from her laptop, when Holo was standing stiffly at attention in front of her desk. "At ease commander," she said in a certain relaxed manner. "I've been looking through your Starfleet record, and it certainly is impressive... For a hologram."

Holo noticed the subtle change in her expression when she said 'hologram'. It was as if she doubted the records, and he knew this captain did not consider him a sentient being.

Instead, she probably thought that he was just a clever bit of AI programming and that he somehow mimicked sentience. "Is their any problem with me being a hologram?" he asked Ezri.

She looked slightly taken aback. "No," she answered. "You are cleared for your post as chief of starship maintenance. Dismissed."

Holo left the office, and he knew these next three months for him were going to be very awkward. As he expected, adjusting to life on this station, and working with a new crew was going to be difficult. Not that he made it difficult, the problem was some of the crew would make it difficult for him.

* * *

Ezri left her office when Max contacted her from Ops, and he said this was urgent.

"You called for me Mr Weatherby?" she asked Max, when she arrived at the science station Max worked from.

"Yes sir," said Max, who was focused on the console readings in front of him. "Several of the outposts by the Cardassian/Federation border have reported over a dozen Cardassian ships entering Federation territory, their course is to this station!"

With a frown Ezri looked at the readings, and sure enough the Cardassian ships were inside the Federation side of the border. "Don't the Cardassians know they have no right of passage into Federation space?"

"Of course the Cardassians know this!" said Kira somewhat bitterly, and she shot Ezri an angry look. "They've made all sorts of excuses for their incursions into the Federation!"

That much Ezri did know, however the way Kira had spoken to her was if she had no real knowledge of Federation/Cardassian relations. "But have any Cardassian ships travelled this deep into the Federation?" she said to Kira.

"Not that I'm aware of..."

"By the looks of it this could be another one of their ruses. However, keep tracking the Cardassians at all times Mr Weatherby, any deviation of their course, report it to me immediately."

"Yes captain," said Max.

"Captain," said Kira, who had left her station, and was approaching Ezri. "Can I have a private word in your office?"

"By all means..." said Ezri courteously .

Returning to her office, Ezri stood just in front of her desk, with her arms folded. "What's on your mind colonel?"

Kira gave Ezri an apprising stare, and stood by the other end of the desk rather rigidly. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Granted," said Ezri, though she knew she would regret Kira's forthrightness.

"Just how familiar are you with the cold war between the Cardassian Union and the Federation?" asked Kira, in rather challenging tones.

"I know how this stand-off started," answered Ezri, "and enough to know that both sides-despite years of tensions-have only had one or two minor incidents."

Ezri stared right back into the eyes of her first officer, eyes which did not look convinced of her capabilities as captain. "What is your point Kira?"

"I'll be blunt Dax, many of the previous commanders of this station, seemed inexperienced with the political complexities of this region of space. I'm just worried that-"

"I'm not cut out for this job?" said Ezri slightly resentfully.

"Something like that," said Kira, looking at Ezri unapologetically.

"Let me assure you that I am no newcomer to interplanetary politics, I've had more than my fair share of it while commanding starbase 204 close to the Breen border. If I can handle the Breen, then I can definitely handle the Cardassians."

"Right..." responded Kira, who was caught off guard by Ezri's confidence and implacability. "Sorry for asking captain."

For one moment Ezri was going to speak, as she was half tempted to lecture Kira to not question her abilities again, but Ezri thought better of it. She wanted to make friends not enemies here…

"It doesn't matter," she said eventually, sounding a bit weary. "You are not the first one to doubt my abilities. Dismissed."

Some of the haughtiness softened on Kira's face, and Ezri could tell that Kira was inwardly embarrassed by confronting her captain. Kira then strode out of the room, but she left a bad air behind her.

What slightly aggrieved Ezri was not that Kira doubted her, but whether that would spill over into their working relationship. In any case if there was a problem, Ezri would resolve it before it got out of hand…

Ezri sat down on her desk chair, and her mind thought about the Cardassians. They were up to their old tricks again, just like the time when Jadzia was first on board the station. That was one feature Ezri always remembered about the Cardassians; their arrogant aggression. She expected the Cardassians to be considerably cowed and beaten following the monstrous act of the Dominion exterminating over eight hundred million Cardassians.

But the Cardassians seemed to have recovered from such devastating losses, and found their confidence again. There was one thing Ezri did know for certain; the Cardassians would not want another war with the Federation, surely not after their devastating defeat in the Dominion war...

* * *

Kira finished her shift and headed back to her quarters. She checked her chronometer, it was 1755 hours, and she was just in time for the usual family tea. Despite her so-so job, everyday she had a family to return to which usually cheered her up considerably. This applied even more so today due to that Cardassian fleet heading to DS9. Though this meant trouble, Kira hoped things would not get nasty or dangerous...

But it was no good brooding about, and she then thought about Ezri returning to the station. Kira was not sure what to make of Ezri. On one hand Ezri seemed a lot better than the previous commanders of this station, but then Kira felt a bit miffed that Ezri had not bothered to contact her in so many years. Kira once had a great respect and friendship for first Jadzia and then Ezri, but that had been greatly tempered by Ezri's silence.

It made Kira acutely aware that friends did always remains friends forever and her mind then strayed to her family. She had been married to Odo for sixteen years, and the happiest memory of her life was the day when Odo returned from the Great Link. A year later they married and at the time she did not expect to have children. But having children of her own was not a precondition to marrying Odo.

However thanks to Bashir's medical talent and ground-breaking research, she and Odo managed to conceive, and that was how Mia and Deru were brought into this world. Because of this she was deeply grateful to Bashir.

She gave birth to healthy Bajoran babies, albeit they had a few shapeshifting abilities. Yet they could link with Odo whereas she could not. No solid could link with a shapeshifter, and she regretted this one small thing...

Mia was Kira's daughter, she was fourteen years old and looked very much like her mother. However, she had long red hair instead of her mother's shorter hair. Deru, Kira's son, who was eleven years old and resembled Odo somewhat, though Deru's face looked fully Bajoran.

Like his mother Deru had her brown eyes and red hair, but there the similarities ended. From the outside, both Deru and Mia looked Bajoran, but both had limited shapeshifting abilities. They could link with Odo, stretch their limbs and outer extremities, but that was the limit of their shapeshifting abilities. Kira was not disturbed by the notion of half-shapeshifter children whatsoever, but some of her fellow Bajorans were. Well many years ago some members of her race had been troubled...

Kira came out of her reverie when she arrived at the door to her quarters. _I'm back_. This was always a comforting thought, and after opening the door, she went inside to the living room.

"Hi kids," she called out.

She saw Deru enter the room, he walked towards her and gave her a hug. "Yeah hi," he said, giving his mother a smile.

Nothing pleased Kira more than seeing the smile on his face. When Deru stopped hugging her, Kira then looked around for Mia. "Mia?" she tentatively asked.

A moment later Kira saw Mia, and as expected her daughter's face looked subdued.

"Hi," said Mia rather half-heartedly.

Kira frowned slightly at her daughter. "Are you okay? You look a little bit... down."

"I'm fine," said Mia in an irritated voice.

"Okay then," replied Kira.

Obviously, Mia had had another appalling day at school and probably been bullied. That gloomy thought was pushed out of Kira's mind when she sniffed the air, and the scent of a rather warm pleasant aroma filled her nostrils...

"Mmm... Something smells good, is Odo back early?" she asked Mia.

"He made a breakthrough with one of his investigations."

Mia's voice was bordering on uncaring, and it seemed she did not care what her father had done for the day.

Kira gave a small smile in a feeble attempt to comfort Mia. "I bet he did," she answered with some fondness.

"Odo?" she called out.

"In here," came a gruff voice from the kitchen.

Kira went into the kitchen, while at the same moment Deru challenged Mia to a game of chess.

Odo was grinding up Bajoran herbs against a metal breadboard and he stopped when Kira came in.

She gave Odo a brief kiss to his lips, and then stood back so as to not get in the way of her husband. "How are the children?"

"Deru is fine, he's so popular at school. Mind you, he was always popular with his peers for some odd reason. But Mia..."

Odo paused and he looked briefly pained and weary.

Kira looked just as weary as Odo, as she recognised the start of a very repetitive and depressing topic. "What about her?" she demanded.

"I think she has been bullied again. She will never admit it, but I can tell," observed Odo, and he moodily ground up the herbs as he said this, putting more force than necessary into the process.

"I get sick of seeing her like this," said Kira miserably, though she kept her voice down so her children would not hear her. "She's timid, and she rarely lashes out, but when she did..."

Kira trailed off, as she remembered that horrible day, and it still sent shivers down her spine.

"She nearly killed a seven year old classmate," finished Odo.

Kira grimaced in frustration, wearied by the fact she had this conversation so many times before. "Do you think we should pull her out of school?" she suggested.

"What choice do we have?" Odo replied. "She is intelligent, but when it comes to social contact..."

"We cannot protect her forever Odo! She needs to toughen up!"

With a thoughtful look, Odo then spoke his mind. "It hast to be the shapeshifting, that is why she is bullied. If she were normal-"

Anger burst into Kira's eyes, and Odo had the look of someone crossing the line. He went deathly quiet, and gave Kira a nervous stare as if bracing for her wrath.

"If she was normal I would not be married to you Odo!" hissed Kira, and she then lowered her voice. "It was the price we paid for having half-shapeshifter children, don't you dare say to me you made a mistake! Besides Deru shows off his shapeshifting abilities and he is the most popular person in his peer group! It has got to be Mia's personality..."

"I never said I made a mistake Kira," replied Odo meekly. "How... how was your day?"

For a few seconds Kira glowered at Odo and at his obvious attempt to change the topic. But she did not want to stay mad at Odo forever so she let the matter drop.

"Stoner's finally gone, he left the station early this morning. I could not tolerate that man and his attitude. But at least the replacement won't be the same as the rest of the previous captains and commanders."

"Who is he?" asked Odo.

"You mean she," Kira corrected. "It's Ezri Dax."

"Dax!" Odo exclaimed. "What is she doing here?"

"I'm not sure... last time she was on board seventeen years ago, she was in floods of tears after breaking up with Julian! Well that is what Nog told me."

"Gossip!" Odo snorted in disgust. "That's one of Dax's bad habits that you've picked up... Anyway get the children to set up the table, tea is nearly ready."

Kira went back to the living room, and gave instructions to her children, while she then rested herself on a wooden rocking chair. Something that Odo had designed himself as a wedding anniversary gift.

She watched Mia set up the dining table. Mia was her first child and she lost many Bajoran friends simply because she had a child with a shapeshifter. _Or were they friends?_ she thought miserably. Though she deeply cared for her people they could be at times very xenophobic, and when that happened they cited the Prophet's teachings as a reason for their xenophobia.

The greatest humiliation for Kira was when three vedeks publicly denounced her newborn child as an infidel of the Prophets. She did not sleep for days after that announcement fearful that some crazed fundamentalist or extremist Bajoran may try to attack her and Mia.

She consulted the Prophets, but they did not give her any clear messages. Another humiliation for Kira was when Mia, who was seven at the time, nearly strangled to death one of her classmates for constantly tormenting her. It happened on board DS9, and she was confronted by dozens of angry Bajoran parents on the Promenade.

Kira closed her eyes upon recalling that memory. After the Cardassian occupation, that had to be the worst moment of her life. She did not speak to Odo for two weeks, and in that time, she kept to herself while crying herself to sleep each night... _And now seven years later Mia is still being bullied!_

Over the years, it was becoming a deep burden watching Mia suffer, but what could she do to ease Mia's pain? Kira continued to look preoccupied when she and her family were at the table eating tea.

* * *

It was sometime late in the evening, and Ezri had had a rather busy day. Getting the administrative work in order was always arduous, but it constituted the bread and potatoes of efficiently running a space station of this size.

Captains did not have shifts per se, they worked hard throughout most of the day, and had the leisure and privilege of taking a break whenever there was no meeting or situation that called for their presence. Ezri was taking such a break and all she could think of was visiting Bashir, and expressing her deepest apologies for the mess she made of their former relationship.

It could only be described as one year of pain: first the arguments, then Ezri leaving the station, and their child… _The child… Sorin…_ The one they decided to orphan shortly after their baby was born, just because their relationship was so dysfunctional and they both felt so bad… Looking back it had to be the worst mistake of Ezri's life, she should have toughed it out and been a mother. She should have asked Bashir more firmly to be Sorin's father.

If they had even a few weeks of parenthood, Ezri thought it would have mended their wounds. But no; Bashir did not appear to have any genuine interest, then again maybe he would have if both he and Ezri stuck with it and tried to raise Sorin. It was a bad decision made by both of them…

Departing from a turbolift, Ezri arrived in the Promenade, and what she saw helped to dispel some of the bad memories she was thinking about. It had been so many years since she had walked here, and her eyes took in everything. Walking along, she passed by Odo's office, the Bajoran temple and Quark's bar. All of it had hardly changed in appearance, and she smirked a bit to herself as she passed by Quark's bar, noticing Quark-who was visible behind the bar-whose eyes followed her as she came into his line of sight.

Ezri expected Quark to offer her holosuite programs, and perhaps flirt with her like he had done with Jadzia and when she, Ezri, had first arrived on the station. Then again maybe Quark had grown tired of flirting, and perhaps that was no bad thing…

One thing new to the Promenade, was this restaurant called iThe Prophet's Cuisine/i, it was next to Quark's business, and from the looks of it, this seemed to be a rather cosy and romantic looking place.

Before she knew it, Ezri found her legs taking her into the Infirmary, and her heart started pounding slightly. She felt nervous, especially considering what Bashir's reaction would be when he saw her after fourteen years.

She found Bashir sitting on a soft-padded chair, staring into a series of consoles and screens in front of him, and it was no surprise to Ezri as she saw that look of concentration on Bashir's still handsome face.

With a small cough she got Bashir's attention.

Bashir swivelled around on his chair, and when his eyes took in Ezri's presence, for one moment he appeared taken aback. He looked just as Ezri last remembered him, though Bashir did have a few small wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, he still retained a lot of his youthful looks.

"Captain," he said very calmly, displaying an aura of the utmost professional detachment. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Captain..." muttered Ezri, and from what little Bashir had said, she knew he still had not forgiven her. "I thought we were on a first name basis?"

"That was a long time ago, and if you're visiting strictly on personal reasons, then I'll ask you to leave."

"Come on Julian!" burst out Ezri, and she could no longer contain her emotions anymore. "It's been seventeen years and you still can't forgiven me?"

Ezri's display of emotion only made Bashir give her a rather cold look. "I cannot forgive you for breaking my heart."

"Well I'm sorry," said Ezri in hushed tones, "I really am sorry for the grief I gave to you!"

Now Bashir was on his feet, with an expression full of cold anger. "You should have told me you were pregnant when we were happily together on this station! Why couldn't you tell me you were pregnant?"

"I... I…" stammered Ezri, and even now fourteen years later Bashir could render her speechless. "I wasn't sure of myself, I don't know!"

"So after seventeen years you still don't know why you ended our relationship?" asked Bashir, sounding more and more bitter with each word. "Either you are really stupid or you are lying to me! But I know you are intelligent, and you must have had proper reasons for leaving me."

"I don't feel like talking about it..." said Ezri in distressed tones.

The anger became removed from Bashir's expression, to be replaced with a heart-wrenching sadness. "Why did you come back to this station Ezri? What do you want from me?"

"All I want is to make amends with you, however belatedly."

"I'm not forgiving you," said Bashir coldly.

That remark made Ezri finally find her voice, and the strength to argue right back at Bashir. "You are not the only one who is hurting!" she said angrily. "I was devastated just as much as you were by how we fell apart!"

"And that makes it all right?"

"Of course it doesn't... But..."

Ezri fell silent, and she decided to be completely candid with Bashir. "Can you please forgive that young, foolish and naive woman who went with her heart and not her head? Because... because I forgive you."

Such was the tender and sad tone of Ezri's voice, that Bashir's icy expression melted, and his defences were lowered. Ezri finally thought she had gotten through to Bashir, but then…

"I can't..." said Bashir, and he sounded more angry towards himself than to Ezri. "Though neither do I want to argue with you any more. I think it is best if we act completely professionally towards each other, and don't attempt to talk to each other off duty."

"That's ridiculous!" exclaimed Ezri, and she felt that familiar anger she once had towards Bashir all those years ago. "It will only make things worse between us!"

"As the Ferengi say, that is my final offer," said Bashir, and he looked unmovable on his position.

"But I want to talk you..." said Ezri in a soft childlike voice. "How is this fair on me?"

"Fair?" asked Bashir somewhat rhetorically. "Your definition of fair is very two-sided... Now is there anything else captain?"

"No there isn't _doctor_," Ezri replied with a heavy sarcastic emphasis, "and I don't think I will ever need your services for a long while."

With a huff, she pivoted around on the spot, and marched out of the Infirmary. She fought very hard to keep her face expressionless, but it was a hopeless battle as she felt so angry. For one moment back there in the Infirmary, Ezri felt certain that Bashir was going to forgive her, but then that damned man changed his mind at the last nanosecond…

Her conversation with Bashir had been utterly pointless and in fact it seemed to make things even worse…

When she arrived back in her quarters, Ezri had the privacy to let her emotions out. The day had definitely ended badly for Ezri, and it was ruined by a familiar source. If only Bashir knew how sincerely she wanted to heal the old wounds the two had. But he just did not want to give her a chance.

Tears now brimmed in her eyes, but Ezri forced herself over to the desk in her living room, sat down on chair and turned on the laptop, resting on top of the desk. She tried to work and finish up this report regarding an assessment of DS9's strategic value, but she was fighting against her heart which languished in sorrow.

The tears started leaking from her eyes, and Ezri leaned back in her chair, one elbow braced against an armrest, while she had her right first against her mouth. She looked away from the desk and just stared at some point on the floor, to her right. It was so clear to her that she had to ignore Bashir to the best of her ability, maybe Bashir was right, she had to act professional.

For one thing she did want to be knocking at the door to Bashir's quarters, and grovel to him for forgiveness. She was a Starfleet captain and she could not abase herself like that for it would be totally unprofessional. For so many years she had buried a lot of her sadness and regrets, and she could do so this time...

* * *

_Authors Note:_

_(__For readers of DS9, or Star Trek fans who have seen the whole DS9 series_)  


_You'll all be wondering why Odo is on the station, and married to Kira and he has two children. This is not fanciful writing. Odo returning to DS9 and restarting his relationship with Kira is covered in my story Devolution, read the chapters titled Flashback 1 and Flashback 2 to find out how the two came back together._

_Next you will be asking how Kira and Odo could have children. This is explained in my Series Bible under the chapter called Characters. Look for the section on Julian Bashir and you will find a section called 'How Bashir helped Kira and Odo conceive:'_

_Read these three chapters and everything will then make sense to you._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Day 3, 0900 hours

There was a distinct tension in the air inside of Ops, as the Cardassian fleet the station's sensors were tracking came steadily closer.

"What is the ETA on the Cardassian fleet Mr Weatherby?" asked Ezri, who was looking over Max's shoulder.

"About three minutes," replied Max from his station, "they're heading at one half impulse, their shields and weapon systems are powered down."

Ezri straightened up, and she at least seemed a bit more calmer. "At least the Cardassians don't appear to have hostile intentions..."

"Not yet," added Kira rather cynically.

"Captain," said Max urgently, "we're being hailed by one of the Cardassian ships!"

"On screen!" said Ezri calmly, and she stood to the right of the science station so that she could be clearly seen from whoever was contacting her.

A beat later, the image of a Cardassian bridge appeared on the viewscreen, and the centre of the camera was focused on the Cardassian standing at the forefront of the bridge.

"This is president Garak to Deep Space Nine, to whom am I speaking to?"

"Captain Ezri Dax, commander of the station."

"Ah yes," acknowledged Garak and his eyes lighted up a little. "Cardassian Central Intelligence informed me of that development yesterday. Congratulations on the promotion..."

"President, I don't think you came to this station with a fleet of sixteen Cardassian warships to offer me congratulations for my promotion."

Some of the charm on Garak's face faded. "No of course not, I come here because I have urgent matters to discuss."

"What kind of matters?" asked Ezri, looking stony faced.

"I would rather discuss that in private captain," said Garak, and all his charm disappeared from his face.

For one moment Ezri hesitated, and she almost looked like she was going to disapprove of Garak's request.

"As you wish," she said blandly, "you can dock your ship at this station... However what will the remainder of your ships do?"

"They will be stationed some distance away from the station, and I assure you captain that this is not to intimidate you, but for my own personal protection."

"Right..." said Ezri sounding just a little sceptical of Garak's explanation. "Colonel Kira will direct your ship when it is close to this station. Is there anything else president?"

"There is one thing... When I arrive, I don't want any grandiose welcoming party and all I desire is to be simply escorted to the room where we will discuss my agenda."

"Informal indeed."

Garak gave Ezri a small smile of approval. "Thank you captain, Garak out."

The instant the comm line terminated, did Kira speak. "Garak hasn't lost much of his charm has he?"

"Or his paranoia..." added Ezri, glancing at Kira.

Kira moved around on her chair, and every bit of her face looked distrusting and suspicious. "Do you really believe Garak when he says the Cardassian fleet is for his own protection?"

"Colonel, you're forgetting that Garak can explain away just about anything and sound convincing. Even so, I still believe this show of force on Garak's part, is nothing more than that. Have Odo and security escort Garak to the wardroom when he arrives at the station."

With those orders, Ezri proceeded to the turbolift, and she looked totally in charge because Kira simply followed those orders immediately and without question.

* * *

Odo and four of his security personnel waited outside of the inner airlock door. As the door rolled back, revealing Garak and six of his Cardassian security guards, Odo gave Garak a very steady expression.

"President..." acknowledged Odo, and he then gestured with his hand, pointing rightwards. "This way please to the station's wardroom."

As both Odo and Garak walked, side-by-side, Garak was regarding Odo as if he were an old friend. "Constable I haven't been gone that long to forget the station's layout, you seem to be forgetting the eidetic memories all Cardassians have."

"Huh!" snorted Odo dismissively. "You always had a tendency for making pointless small talk."

"I am just being friendly constable," said Garak sounding warm.

Odo though shot Garak an irritated look. "With all due respect, Mr Garak, don't play the 'we're old friends' game with me."

"Of course..." replied Garak, and his warm look became rather fixed. "Your impression of me was greatly tainted after the Arrettia massacre?"

"Why do you care about my opinion of that day?" said Odo coldly.

"We used to be friends constable."

"Times change..."

This remark made Garak look momentarily thoughtful. "I'm afraid they do."

Odo and Garak continued to walk in silence, until they reached the door to the wardroom.

Coming to a stop, Odo gazed a little wearily at Garak's guards. "Is it really necessary to bring all of your guards inside the wardroom?"

"Perhaps not," said Garak after a brief look at his guards. "Lecto, Jantz you are with me."

Garak walked forwards, but then stopped just outside of the door, and turned around somewhat. "One more thing constable..."

"Yes president?"

"I was really happy for you when I heard you married colonel Kira Nerys, and that is something I do sincerely mean."

Odo simply nodded in acknowledgement, and watched as Garak and his two guards entered the wardroom.

When the door had closed did Odo address the four station guards. "Opune, contact me when president Garak has left the wardroom, and I'll arrive back here."

"That isn't necessary shapeshifter!" said one of the Cardassian guards angrily.

"Really?" said Odo, giving the guard in question a challenging look.

"We don't need your security guards or you!" said the Cardassian bitterly, and his whole face was alight with rage. "If it weren't for that uniform, I would shoot you dead myself!"

"I was not the one who exterminated your race!"

"But your people were!" the Cardassian spat out. "They got away with genocide."

Taking one step forwards, Odo did not seem at all threatened or perturbed by the Cardassian's threats. "Frankly I don't give a damn what you think of me, just as long as you don't cause trouble or commit a criminal offence, then I have no problem with you."

For a moment the Cardassian looked ready to hit Odo, but then he appeared to think better of it, and directed his other three colleagues to position themselves in the particular stretch of corridor they were standing in.

Sensing there would be no more trouble, Odo then left. But when nobody could see his face, he looked a little uncomfortable, and there was a certain regret in his eyes.

* * *

Ezri was pacing around the head of the conference table as she waited for Garak to arrive. She had little respect for Garak and his government, but this meeting was unprecedented and no matter how much she did not like Garak, she would use this opportunity to press for more peaceful relations between the Cardassians and Federation no matter what her feelings were.

The wardroom door opened, and Ezri ceased her pacing to see who had arrived.

"President..." she said the moment when Garak came into full view.

She then noticed the two guards escorting Garak. "Are those two guards really necessary?"

"I'm afraid so," said Garak with some delicacy. "My safety is paramount and we would not want to have an incident would we?"

"I see your point..." said Ezri, and she then gestured to Garak to sit down next to her.

She sat down at the head of the table, while Garak sat down to her immediate left. "Tell me something Garak, after nearly fifteen years of zero diplomatic contact, why have you come here?"

"Would you be convinced that this trip here is to end hostilities between the Cardassian Union and the Federation?"

Garak was messing with her head, but Ezri ignored that, dealing with Cardassians was like playing a game of chess; it was a mental battlefield.

"I am not that naïve president," she said in pleasant tones. "You've come here to ask something of the Federation, and given your tact and politeness, I assume this is a request and not a demand?"

"How perceptive captain," said Garak, and he appeared to appreciated Ezri's reasoning skills.

There was a pause on his part, and Garak seemed to be considering just how much information he could reveal to Ezri. "Have you heard of a planet in the Badlands called Tau Primia?"

"I have actually."

"A very inhospitable world at best," continued Garak, "but it is the base for certain Cardassian rebels."

"Why would they go against your government?" asked Ezri rather innocently.

Garak's face became mask-like again, though he did not show any sign of discomfort from this pertinent question. "I do not want to go into any great detail, suffice to say they are disgruntled, and we'll keep at that. What is important however is that these rebels have been attacking ships in the Badlands. These are Federation ships and others not affiliated with the Cardassian Union. It took much persuasion of the Central Command, but we finally agreed that these attacks have to stop for the stability of the region."

"I have heard of ships disappearing in the Badlands, but how do you know they have been attacked by these rebels?"

"Trust me, I know," said Garak with resounding confidence. "I have a source in the rebels, and I know that Gul Bordak is leading them and conducting these attacks on unsuspecting ships."

The very mention of Bordak's name shocked Ezri, and it was Bordak's infamy that angered her the most. "Did you say Gul Bordak?"

"Yes," said Garak, and his eyes glinted a little at Ezri's surprised reaction. "I thought you might be interested to hear that."

"Alright Garak what's the deal here?" demanded Ezri and she was through with Garak's game-playing and teases. "Do you want Starfleet to assist you in capturing Bordak, so that you can capture Bordak?"

"Yes."

"And what does the Federation get out of this?"

"There is a prison on Tau Primia, where all the survivors of the attacked ships are held. Conditions are very brutal, but there are hundreds of Federation citizens being held against their will."

Those were tempting terms, and Ezri mulled this over quickly in her head; it seemed to be an almost perfect deal.

"So Starfleet rescues hundreds of innocent people," she said at last, "and you get Bordak. That appears to be a fair deal, although I do have one question... How do you intend to assault this prison?"

"Well I have fifteen Cardassian warships waiting to be deployed, and if there were an equal number of Federation ships or more, then this would be more than enough to capture Tau Primia."

Garak then removed a Cardassian padd from an interior pocket in his jacket, and slid the padd over the table to Ezri. "These are the coordinates of Tau Primia, and the latest intelligence on the prison and concerning Bordak are all in this padd."

Ezri picked up the padd and briefly stared at its contents. "I will talk to Starfleet Command about this, and I am reasonably certain they will agree to this... operation."

"Excellent," said Garak with some fondness. "And may it also be a first step to ease the tensions between my people and yours."

Standing up, Garak looked at Ezri rather magnanimously. "Have a good day captain."

"The same to you president."

Ezri's hand rested over the padd while she watched Garak and his two security guards leave the room. What Garak had proposed seemed mutually beneficial to both sides, and Starfleet Command would be very interested to hear about this…

It surprised Ezri, but Garak had not changed one bit. He still had his charm, his obfuscation and a certain manipulative streak. Ezri had to remind herself that this same man was behind the Cardassian revolt which kicked out all Federation ships, officers and citizens from Cardassian territory. Garak had the blood of thousands on his hands, and the most disturbing thing was how Garak could justify it all.

Such behaviour made Garak look in Ezri's eyes at least, a dictator, ruling over the Cardassians with a iron-fisted rule. The Cardassian Union was extremely secretive, and Starfleet Intelligence had gleaned very little fifteen years after the flare up in hostilities. If this deal lead to peace then Ezri would be satisfied, despite her opinion of Garak and his government.

* * *

Inside the commander's office, Ezri was busy sifting through various bits of unfinished paperwork. She was shocked by Stoner's incompetence or rather laziness in letting such administrative issues pile up waiting to be resolved.

On top of the administrative issues was the meeting with Garak, and it lingered in the back of her mind. Ezri still found it surprising that Garak wanted a joint operation to take place between the Cardassians and Starfleet, and she just knew that Garak had a whole list of ulterior motives for doing so. As she worked, she wondered when admiral Ross would get back to her...

She was concentrating on a padd when her a message showed up on her laptop. Ezri briefly checked who was sending it, and discovered it was admiral Ross, at once she activated her end of the subspace comm line.

On the screen appeared Ross who sat by his desk.

"Admiral, any word about Starfleet Command approving this operation?" asked Ezri.

"Starfleet Command approves," replied Ross. "Furthermore, from the intelligence Garak gave us, we believe that some of the prisoners are members of Starfleet."

"The missing crew from the Liberty?" asked Ezri sharply.

"Possibly, and by the looks of it, Bordak seems to have ran out of favour with his people, as the Cardassian government is now brandishing him a traitor."

Ezri's mouth tightened when she heard Bordak's name, and she felt a little uneasy about this operation. "But he was the one who instigated the Arrettia massacre. Why would the Cardassians arrest one of their national heroes?"

"I know it may seem strange what the Cardassians are doing," admitted Ross, "but I contacted Garak, and he assured me of Cardassia's full cooperation with the Federation to launch a joint strike on Tau Primia. Your mission is to lead the Starfleet task force and work with the Cardassians to free the prisoners on Tau Primia and capture Bordak. Garak and I have both agreed that you should lead the Federation part of the fleet, while coordinating with Gul Ackaron, who is leading the Cardassian ships.

"The Bajorans will be assisting Starfleet and the Cardassians in this operation. This is something that the Bajorans have never done before; providing military assistance for Starfleet. Still it is another step towards healing the rift between the Bajorans and the Cardassians, by working together and setting aside their mutual distrust of one and another. There are a few things that have to be finalised, and First Minister Shakaar will be arriving on the station for a meeting with you and Garak today."

Ezri considered it a sound plan, but she had one more question for the admiral. "How many ships are both Starfleet and the Bajorans providing for this operation?"

"About seventeen," Ross replied, "the Bajorans are providing ten ships, and Starfleet is sending in seven ships with the Defiant as the lead ship. This should be a tactically simple operation, giving Bordak has only five known ships under his control. However on the planet it could be a different matter... Good luck captain, Ross out."

The transmission ended, and Ezri paused briefly about what she had to do.

Her mind was made up, her finger tapped on a control panel to contact the senior staff. "This is captain Dax to the senior staff, report to the wardroom immediately."

This was her first mission as a captain and it was not going to be an easy one. Nevertheless Ezri enjoyed a challenge...

* * *

Including Ezri there were seven senior staff members in the wardroom. Kira Nerys, was DS9's Bajoran first officer, she was second in command, she had a no-nonsense approach to her job and was deeply respected by the crew of DS9. Odo was chief of security and a shapeshifter, as usual his face was devoid of emotion. Julian Bashir was the chief medical officer and probably the smartest person in the room.

Despite being 52 years old, Bashir's face still looked quite young considering his age. Sitting right next to Bashir was Nog, Nog was chief of operations, and a hard worker, but he got on with everybody really well. Max was the chief of science and was the youngest person in the room, though technically Holo was the youngest.

Ezri was at the front of the table giving a presentation about the rescue operation, she had nearly finished this and was now summarising the presentation. "To conclude; we are working with the Cardassians and the Bajorans." Ezri gave a quick small nod to Kira. "To free as many prisoners as possible and to capture Gul Bordak. Any questions?"

Max was the first person to speak. "I have a question; why are the Bajorans involved? I mean Cardassian/Bajoran diplomatic relations are frosty at best, so why would the Bajorans work with the Cardassians?"

It was a naive question and Bashir and Nog exchanged smirks. Clearly Max was still new to the complicated diplomatic and political situation which DS9 was placed in.

Kira turned to face Max, and responded to his question in a very calm manner. "Because commander, Bajor wants to prove to everyone else that it is not dependent upon others. After the Cardassians pillaged Bajor 24 years ago, Bajor was left in ruins. Now Bajor has fully recovered and by helping the Cardassians and the Federation with this operation, it shows to everyone that Bajor is not a backwater planet."

"I'm concerned about the Cardassians," said Nog. "We can't trust them and they still believe that the Arrettia massacre was justified. Hundreds of innocent Starfleet personnel were killed, and now the Cardassians are going to work with us to capture the instigator of that massacre? It doesn't make any sense, why would the Cardassians arrest one of their national heroes?"

It was a valid point, something that had crossed Ezri's mind numerous times. "Admiral Ross told me that President Garak was fully behind this operation."

"Risky move of Garak's isn't it?" said Bashir. "He may have upset the Cardassian military just enough to make them consider a coup-"

"I know Garak," Odo interrupted. "He's a survivor and a consummate liar, and he may have deceived the whole of Central Command if he successfully managed, without backlash, to order Gul Bordak's arrest."

It was Bashir's turn to interrupt Odo. "Garak wouldn't take such a big risk, it is-"

Ezri decided to put a stop to this argument, she cut straight through Bashir. "Enough!" she said angrily. "There is no point in speculating about Garak's motives. Our main priority is to focus on this mission. It is more important to be on the lookout for any Cardassian ploy, than it is to bicker over unsubstantiated claims!"

"Bicker?" Bashir retorted. "That wasn't..."

"Watch your mouth commander!" Ezri warned him. "I will not tolerate such pointless retorts, understood?"

Bashir had enough sense to back down. "Yes sir," he said, trying to put as much contempt and disgust as possible into 'sir'.

It seemed Bashir's hatred of her had not abated, even after seventeen years, and Ezri felt terrible because of it. Nevertheless she was a captain and captain's controlled their emotions. Ezri decided to finish the senior staff meeting.

"Good, any other objections?" she asked looking from left to right. "No? At 0800 tomorrow, the Defiant leaves this station. Staff meeting adjourned then!"

Ezri watched her senior staff leave the room, she noticed that Bashir was the first person to leave. She felt embarrassed as she nearly came so close to having a petty argument with Bashir. She breathed out deeply, the argument had shaken her and even on a professional level Bashir vented his anger directly towards her. It became very clear to her that there was next to no chance of talking on a personal level to Bashir. So much for making amends then...

Ezri cleared her head as she thought about the meeting she would be having later on with Shakaar and Garak. Though the operation was going ahead, there were still some minor details which had to be worked upon...

* * *

Max headed to Quark's bar to have his lunch break. For over a year he had worked and lived in DS9, and he knew the senior staff reasonably well. As he entered Quark's he spotted Bashir, Nog and Kira sitting at their usual table.

Bashir soon noticed Max, and he gestured to Max to come over.

After ordering both a beverage and his lunch to a Ferengi waiter, Max came over to the table, holding a beverage in one hand while his lunch was being prepared.

Taking up the vacant chair, Max simply listened as Nog continued on with his conversation about Ezri. "I'm telling you Julian, I like her style of captaincy."

Max noticed that Bashir's face had tensed up.

"On a professional note her style is... acceptable," said Bashir stiffly. "But on a personal note-"

"Get over it Julian, she's just a woman!" Nog exclaimed. "You're what 50?"

"52," sighed Bashir.

"It's time you settled down," Nog lectured. "I can think of a few dozen women who'd like to marry you."

Max and Kira laughed since Nog had a way with the ladies.

"What about you Max?" Nog asked.

This caught Max by surprise, and his brain seemed surprisingly sluggish as he came up with an answer. "Oh me?" he replied stalling for time. "Yeah I'd like to marry... I don't want to push it any further with my career as I'm happy with it so far... So I guess so if I find the right woman to settle down with."

Quark came over to their table, while carrying an empty tray in one hand. "Your talking about marriage?" he asked. "Very unprofitable, unless she's rich, and then you get a Federation divorce. Fifty-fifty split of her accumulated profit and assets. Then it's profitable!"

"Who'd want to marry you Quark?" Kira retorted. "I think it's your big, fat, ugly head that dents your appeal personally."

Bashir, Nog and Max laughed, though Max knew that Kira respected Quark, but he had no idea as to why...

"On the contrary colonel!" Quark replied. "Most of the women in this galaxy wouldn't say no to a Ferengi male!"

"Only because you coerce them," mentioned Kira nastily. "Nothing personal Nog."

Nog grinned, showing his twisted and sharp teeth.

Max returned the topic back to Ezri. "I think Dax is a better captain than Stoner, her command style is more relaxed, whereas with Stoner you always felt on edge."

"I'm glad he's gone," said Kira, while she stared thoughtfully into her glass.

"I know," said Bashir a little irately, "you keep telling us that!"

"I'm serious!" exclaimed Kira, removing her gaze from the glass. "This station feels nicer without Stoner."

"Even with the Cardassians nearby?" asked Nog.

"They are not threatening us," said Bashir.

Max set his glass down on the table. "Just what are the Cardassians doing here? I heard rumours that Garak, Shakaar and Dax are holed away in the wardroom, arguing over who controls the wormhole."

"They're not," said Kira flatly.

"How do you that?" asked Max, rounding on Kira.

"I just do," said Kira, keeping a steady gaze on Max. "And that's about all I can tell you."

"But the Cardassians aren't here to attack us?" said Nog, seeking to clarify the matter.

"No," replied Kira.

"Well that's good to know," said Nog a little cheerfully and he took another sip from his mug.

"Yeah," said Max simply, though that was all he could say for such a statement.

Max let his three colleagues talk when a different Ferengi waiter arrived and set down the plate containing Max's lunch. With nothing better to do, Max bolted down his lunch, while his colleagues switched back to the topics of family and marriage. It was hard to join in such a conversation, even though he had given marriage some considerable thought, he did not feel ready to have a relationship, let alone start a family.

Though he knew from personal experience that families could go pare-shaped, especially when it involved children. Almost subconsciously Max thought of Coplin, his twin brother. All in all Coplin was a bad apple and at the age of fifteen Coplin ran away from home. No doubt he was probably involved with organised crime, or possibly even dead.

Max could vividly remember his parent's anguish as they berated themselves over what they did wrong. Such soul-searching probably contributed to his parent's early deaths in their sixties, and this had happened only three years ago. All of this affected Max very deeply and because of that he became far more reserved and did not like socialising.

He looked briefly at Bashir, Kira and Nog, noting that socialising did have its advantages sometimes. iYou just have to pick your friends wisely/i. Max also made a mental note to start talking with Holo in off duty hours. If someone needed a friend, then it was Holo.

* * *

Day 4, 0800 hours

Ezri sat down in the comfortable command chair, with her hands resting on the armrests. The Defiant was ready to go, and Ezri was waiting to hear when all the ships in this fleet would be ready. She felt cautiously optimistic about this mission, and though it was her first one as captain, the risk of setbacks and complications appeared low indeed.

"All ships are reporting ready," said Holo from the communications station.

This was it, the moment when the operation commenced…

"Signal all ships to follow the Defiant Mr Holo," said Ezri calmly. "Take the Defiant out Mr Weatherby."

"Course laid in for the Badlands..." said Max who was at the helm console.

"Engage," said Ezri in a confident voice.

/

The Defiant took the lead, while there were two rows of ships behind it. Just behind the Defiant were a mixture of Starfleet and Bajoran ships, while at the back row were the Cardassian Galor class ships. Together the ships moved in tandem following the Defiant, and moving away from Deep Space Nine…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Day 5, 0700 hours

Inside a dimly lit cell, Megan Felpes stirred. Her body was aching all over while her Starfleet uniform looked no better. The uniform was in tatters, it was dirty and stained in her own blood. Megan wondered when Haydra would be coming back, and her stomach churned as she thought about what Haydra must have been going through. It seemed highly likely to Megan that Gul Bordak was torturing Haydra, and it had been two days since Haydra was taken from her cell.

Megan knew exactly what Haydra was going through: beatings, medical experiments and rape. Bordak never varied his routine when it came to personally torturing a prisoner; four hour-long periods of torture, a quick break, more torture.

Most prisoners quickly broke down in a matter of days; they lost hope and became psychotic wrecks. Fear, insanity and pain were there only companions. Megan was one of the few who had not cracked, not yet.

Bordak always liked to torture the high-value prisoners. The only exception to this was Megan herself, virtually everyday Bordak tortured her. For some particular reason, Bordak had a grudge against her, though Megan thought it was more like pure unadulterated hatred towards her.

She sat up against the cold, black ceramic wall, waiting for Haydra to return. Looking to her left she saw Jack sitting against the wall, his face was as usual expressionless, but his eyes did not seem to be staring at anything. Every time she looked at Jack she got this strange feeling, almost like a weight in her stomach. It was as if she knew that Jack could not be trusted, but how did she know this?

The door opened, and two Cardassian guards kicked a human woman into Megan's cell.

The moment the guards had closed the door did Megan hurry over to fetch a small bowl of water.

The woman laid face down upon the floor and was breathing heavily. Megan carefully turned the woman over so that she was resting on her back; it was Haydra. There were numerous cuts and bruises all over Haydra's face, however through that Megan saw the look of an incredibly defeated-looking person.

"Here take my water, you'll need it," she said, handing to Haydra the bowl of water.

"No you have it," said Haydra. "The Cardassians are going to torture you next, you'll need that water to keep your strength up."

Megan though shrugged her shoulders. "I've got accustomed to torture. It hurts, but I just block out the pain..."

Haydra looked at Megan disbelievingly. "How..." she stammered, "how can you say that? You're lying when you say it doesn't hurt because there is emotional pain. Like being separated from your friends and family, don't you have a family?"

"The only family I have is my mother," replied Megan dismissively, she had not spoken with her mother for over six years as both she and her mother were estranged.

Haydra though looked stunned and deeply hurt by Megan's comment. "Don't you care about how your mother feels?" she asked. "Your mother thinks that you are dead, I can't imagine what she must be going through."

There was a pause, and Haydra's eyes looked very sorrowful. "I keep thinking about my husband and my two children, I miss them terribly."

Tears were now starting to well up in Haydra's eyes. "The Cardassians shouldn't have captured the Liberty," she said despairingly. "I should have been better prepared for the worst, as a captain I failed my crew..."

Megan grabbed Haydra's left arm, and Haydra looked wearily at her. "You did your utmost to protect the crew of the Liberty," said Megan with a fierce determination. "You never failed as a captain, and you did everything possible to protect the crew of the Liberty."

Her words though had zero effect upon Haydra. "What does it matter?" she lamented. "There is no escape out of this prison. All of us are staying in here for good. There is no hope..."

"There is always hope," Megan said passionately. "Are we going to succumb to our fear and pain, and start cowering in this cell? The Cardassians would love to see such a sight! Defiance and resilience are the only things we have left, it means the Cardassians have not broken us."

Haydra looked even more despondent. "I can't do do it," she replied wearily. "I don't have your strength and your resilience..."

"Please don't give up," urged Megan, and now her voice started to falter. "Have you got that?"

Haydra started crying, and Megan stopped trying to comfort her former captain.

Megan sat back down at her usual spot in the cell, listening to Haydra sobbing. Haydra was starting to crumble, and Megan knew this was inevitable, even for a Starfleet captain.

For two years, she, Jack and Haydra had shared the cell, in this prison on Tau Primia. They watched out for each other, and all three had many terrible experiences in the prison. Sometimes Megan felt convinced that Jack was to blame for their predicament, and in those moments a terrible guilt lay in the bottom of her stomach.

Megan looked at Jack and tears welled in her eyes. She could not stop herself from crying as she felt so horrible and low.

Jack noticed Megan's tears and he walked over, before sitting down right next to Megan. "Don't cry," he said gently. "Like you said you can't give up."

"Stop trying to comfort me," Megan whispered, and she kept her voice low as Haydra continued to sob. "I can't trust you."

"Why can't you trust me?" Jack inquired.

"You..." Megan paused and she tried to recall this memory, yet every time she attempted this, an intense, emotional pain built up inside her. Yet this particular memory was the reason why she could not trust Jack.

"I don't know..." she said sounding confused. "But you did something, you somehow condemned us all to this!"

Jack hugged Megan, and he spoke softly into her ear. "I'm here to comfort you, not to hurt you."

"I know," replied Megan in a distant voice.

At that moment, she was glad to be in Jack's company, and it made her realise just how much she loved Jack. Megan let him stroke her long hair, which was quite a comforting sensation. She sat there, as she enjoyed a rare moment of tranquillity. But that moment soon became shattered when a Cardassian guard opened the cell door.

At once she separated herself from Jack.

A nasty expression appeared on the guard's face when he gazed at all three prisoners. "It's time for your next torture period Megan, Gul Bordak will be torturing you."

"Why?" Megan asked.

The Cardassian guard approached Megan and he then swung his gun at Megan's face, knocking her to the floor. "Never question orders, rule number one remember?"

Jack stood up with clenched fists, like Megan he disobeyed the prison's rules whenever possible.

"Don't!" Megan warned, while her whole body was taut in defiance.

The guard promptly crossed the room, grabbed Megan by her hair and dragged her out of the door.

* * *

Rage consumed Bordak as he inflicted pain upon the woman he so despised. It somehow made him feel better watching Megan scream with pain, watching her naked body contort and twist in agony.

Bordak's new favourite toy, was this small thumb-sized pain-inducer probe. It was an innocuous looking thing, but it stimulated a humanoid body's nerves wherever the end of the device touched the person's skin.

The door chime went off in the interrogation chamber, and Bordak, who was about to jam the device right up somewhere very sensitive in Megan, stopped in his motion. He straightened up and stared into Megan's drawn and distressed face.

Finally he decided to lower himself, and placed a hand around Megan's chin, bringing his face offensively close to Megan's. "I'll be back..."

Despite the agony on Megan's face, it contorted with anger and her mouth suddenly opened and a big pile of spit went upon Bordak's face.

Standing up again, Bordak slowly removed the spit from his face, and he felt incensed by this woman's defiance and contempt of him.

"You'll regret that!" he hissed.

He walked over to the circular door, and pressed a command on a panel to the right of the door.

The door parted sideways in two parts revealing a Cardassian glinn.

"Mendor this better be important..." said Bordak angrily.

Mendor quickly glanced at Megan, and promptly lowered his voice. "One of your contacts has sent you a message that a fleet of Cardassian, Starfleet and Bajoran ships have left DS9 and are heading to this star system."

"Are you certain about this?" whispered Bordak, who let Mendor into the room, so the door would close and grant them some privacy.

"Positive..." said Mendor firmly. "Legate Nador has always been reliable..."

"It can't be," hissed Bordak, and he felt doubly angry and enraged.

"Gul, the Cardassian government has betrayed you, there are over thirty ships heading in our direction, we cannot win!"

"I will contact Abarzjid, and see if he can provide any assistance."

"He's not going to help us!" said Mendor, and he looked deeply troubled.

"I have to try..." replied Bordak though more to himself. "Prepare all five warships, when the enemy fleet comes, I want to be ready for them."

"We cannot win!" said Mendor through gritted teeth. "It is suicide what you are asking of me and the soldiers under your command!"

Despite the whispered tones, both Bordak and Mendor were sounding more and more angry and aggrieved.

"We are all that is left of the old Cardassian order," said Bordak. "Our government and people have forsaken us, but are we going to surrender and follow the government's will?"

"No we can't," said Mendor, who appeared to be wavering in his objections. "But our survival-"

"Garak will have all of us tracked down, and he wants us to flee from this planet, and to hide in every corner of the quadrant so he can pick us off one by one. Where is the honour in hiding like frightened voles waiting for the inevitable to come?"

Bordak's words calmed Mendor down, but the Glinn still did not look totally convinced. "But our cause will probably die if we're gone."

"This will be a setback," admitted Bordak, "but our cause needs martyrs, it needs to stand up against Garak and his ideologies! There are still plenty of our supporters in the government and Central Command, they will bide their time."

"But with you killed, the movement will lack a leader who is popular amongst the people."

All of a sudden Bordak broke out into a grin, and he looked totally sure of himself. "When the time comes, we won't need such a leader, as the people will be so disgruntled with Garak they will accept anybody!"

Now Bordak placed a hand on Mendor's shoulder, and studied carefully his right-hand man's face. "Are you with me on this one Mendor?"

"I am sir," said Mendor, and his eyes were alight with loyalty to Bordak.

"Tell the soldiers that we are fighting for Cardassia, and making a last stand against the tyranny of Garak's government."

"What of those who are not willing to fight, and want to flee?"

"Kill them," said Bordak heartlessly. "This movement is for the strong of heart and those who believe in the greatness of Cardassia, now is not the time for doubt..."

"Understood sir..." said Mendor who looked more resolute than ever.

"Good luck," replied Bordak in a strong and confident voice.

"The same to you."

Mendor promptly left the room, and Bordak permitted himself a snide smile. How he influenced the men under his command, and his most devout followers, he was not sure. In all truth Bordak's heart was only half into reforming the Cardassian Union, and he had bigger fish to fry. He inwardly thought Mendor was a fool for trusting him so implicitly.

Bordak had no intention of dying, he had his Vizorian contact Gilsa to get him out of trouble. All of a sudden Bordak heard Megan struggling against the restraints binding her to the cold duranium table. Now Bordak shrugged off the worries about his enemies closing in on him, as he directed his whole attention on Megan. She was going to deeply regret her spitting at his face, however he had to make a call to Abarzjid first.

Despite how much Bordak wanted to hurt and punish Megan, he need to get this matter with Abarzjid out of the way...

Bordak just knew as he entered his office that Abarzjid would not be pleased to hear from him so soon. But Abarzjid was Bordak's one last hope that this prison could be protected...

Sitting down behind his desk, Bordak tapped in some commands to bring up the prison's subspace transmitter controls. Bordak had the good fortune of being able to contact Abarzjid, thanks to the Tren captain giving him a special set of frequencies to hail Abarzjid's ship.

With the subspace signal sent, all Bordak could do was wait, though one part of his mind was already back in the torture chamber he departed from. He intended to punish Megan severely for having the nerve to spit at him like that.

While he thought about macabre punishments, his attention was soon diverted to one part of the screen on his console. Abarzjid had contacted him back, and as predicted Abarzjid did not look happy at this.

"Bordak!?" said Abarzjid with considerable contempt. "Why are you contacting me so soon after my last visit to your prison?"

"The Federation and Cardassians have mobilised a fleet and are sending it right at Tau Primia! I need reinforcements to protect this prison, and you are the only person I can turn to for help!"

A horrible smirk came upon Abarzjid's mouth. "Your friends at the Cardassian Liberation Movement couldn't be of any assistance?"

"You know they could not provide any assistance!" snapped back Bordak. "It could cause civil war in the Cardassian Union!"

Abarzjid did not initially respond, and his gaze seemed to be focused on his right hand which he had brought up close to his face. His right elbow casually rested on the desk, and Abarzjid appeared to enjoy teasing Bordak like this.

Finally Abarzjid lowered his hand, and now looked more disdainful. "Tell me something Bordak, why should I care?"

"Because your side has a vested interest in seeing the Cardassian Liberation Movement succeed!"

"If you expect me to do something than you are mistaken, however I will relay your news to the Tren High Command."

"By which time me and my men will be dead!" spat out Bordak, and he could not believe the arrogance on Abarzjid's part.

"You could always surrender..." suggested Abarzjid, who sounded deceptively innocent.

"Oh very funny!"

"There is nothing I-"

Abarzjid then paused, and seemed to frown at something displayed on his console. "Hold on a minute..."

Now Bordak was intrigued, and for the first time, Abarzjid had the look of someone taking matters very seriously.

Finally Abarzjid focused his gaze on Bordak, and looked a little surprised. "I've been given news orders from the High Command... Orders from general Vestrap that the Tau Primia planet is now designated as Tren territory and I have orders to defend it. There's more..."

Abarzjid paused, and then frowned at the same point on his console.

"What is?" demanded Bordak.

"I'm afraid the rest I cannot disclose to you, but what I can say is that the general's orders are most strange indeed..."

"So it's your ship against over thirty Federation and Cardassian ships?"

"That's correct," said Abarzjid, still sounding unusually serious.

He then paused, and a little of his contemptuous manner returned. "However if things get sticky I am under orders to promptly retreat."

Bordak could not believe this, surely Abarzjid realised the consequences of these orders. "By doing this you risk the Federation and Cardassian Union declaring war upon your people!"

"Oh in the greater scheme of things this will simply be regarded as one minor skirmish, and an unfortunate incident. If the Tren Empire does go to war with the Federation this incident will make no difference, and if there is peace this incident can be glossed over under the pretext of defending Tren territory."

"I applaud your ingenuity captain, you are almost like a Cardassian when it comes to devious schemes."

All the loathing and disdainful looks came right back on Abarzjid's face. "I assure you Bordak our two peoples are nothing alike."

Bordak though mentally brushed this point aside. "When will your ship arrive?"

For one moment Abarzjid hesitated and he looked like he was giving this question a great deal of thought. "At the exact time, more or less, when this Federation/Cardassian fleet arrives."

This was a horribly vague answer, and Bordak was about to pick up Abarzjid on this, when Abarzjid continued. "That is all I can disclose, Abarzjid out."

The communication ended and for a while Bordak just glared at his console. He felt totally convinced that Abarzjid was messing around with his head. But it seemed he did have the support of the Tren after all, for whatever that was worth.

Bordak made a mental note to tell Mendor this, but also to caution his right-hand man that the Tren may not be coming or even arrive late. Having resolved himself to do this, Bordak now realised he had some unfinished business with Megan. He was going to make her beg for mercy after her rudeness towards him...

* * *

Holo sat on his chair studying some battle plans at his station on the Defiant's bridge. Being a hologram he could multi-task, simultaneously looking over the battle plans while monitoring the Defiant's warp core. Nobody was paying Holo any attention, and that suited him just fine.

He was busy carefully studying the rescue operation, looking for potential problems that might arise during the operation. Indeed Holo had definitely found a problem. However the captain may or may not know about the problem he had found, but in any case he had to voice his concerns to Ezri.

Standing up, Holo walked over to the commander's chair which Ezri was occupying.

Ezri looked at him. "Yes officer?" She inquired.

_Officer..._ thought Holo, but he brushed this annoyance aside, his voice was confident and concise when he spoke to Ezri. "Captain, I need a private word with you about this mission."

"We'll discuss this in my ready room then," replied Ezri.

So Holo followed Ezri out of the bridge, and a minute later he and Ezri were inside the ready room. Holo came to the desk, standing stiffly at attention, while Ezri sat down behind her desk.

"Alright what do you want to talk about?" said Ezri very briskly.

"Captain, I believe there is a serious and hidden risk to this mission."

"Which is?" asked Ezri a little impatiently.

Holo then quickly elaborated on his point. "The last know transmission from the Liberty seemed to suggest that the attacking Cardassian ships decloaked. What if we are walking into an ambush? We don't know how many ships are awaiting us, and if they're all cloaked we're in for a nasty surprise."

Ezri's face remained neutral. "Lieutenant commander...?"

"Holo sir," he added, how could she have forgotten his name?

"Mr Holo, what would a hologram know about cloaking devices and military tactics?" asked Ezri in a dismissive tone.

Holo ignored the insult and answered the question. "Enough to know that we're heading into a trap."

For one moment a little flicker of surprise appeared on Ezri's face, and Holo could tell that Ezri was inwardly impressed by his astuteness.

Although when Ezri next spoke to Holo, she did not directly looking at him. "I know that Mr Holo, now if you would-"

Holo interrupted her as he would not tolerate such bad manners from anyone, not even Starfleet captains. "Would look at me when you're talking? It's polite you know."

Ezri looked surprised to hear this. "You are a hologram, why are manners so important to you?"

"Because it's polite to do so," he calmly replied. "A person deserves respect and courtesy whether he is a humanoid or a sentient hologram."

Ezri looked straight into his eyes with a doubtful expression. "I'll keep that in mind," she said. "Dismissed commander."

Holo left the ready room without saying another word. It seemed quite clear to him that his captain could not perceive of the concept that hologram's could be fully sentient, or as sentient as she was. Worst of all she seemed convinced that Holo's sentience was merely an illusion, an illusion created by advanced computer programming and algorithms.

_Funny_, he thought, _that a being made of meat would scoff at the idea that intelligence can reside in metal and photons. If holograms were the predominant race would I scoff at the idea that intelligence could reside in meat?_ Holo did not have any answers to that question.

* * *

Gilsa stood close to a sandstone cliff as he waited for his contact to arrive. He was a Vizorian, and by all rights, he should not even be in this galaxy. Though he looked human there was one major difference, an energy being lived inside his body. The Vizorians called these energy beings Kuvi and every Vizorian had a Kuvi.

Both the Kuvi and the Vizorian host were bound together, each supporting the other. The Vizorian host protected the Kuvi, while the Kuvi supported the host's vital functions, repairing injuries incurred by the host and revitalised DNA, giving the host a huge amount of longevity. It was the Kuvi who gave the host special telekinetic powers and senses.

Using his senses Gilsa detected someone approaching him, as this someone disturbed the electromagnetic fields that permeated through the air. Gilsa was hidden from view by a cloaking field thanks to a device inside his fingernail which generated the cloaking field. He did not want anyone except his contact to see him.

"Who's there?" he called out.

"It's me Bordak," answered a voice.

Gilsa could see the Cardassian, and this male definitely looked liked Bordak. So Gilsa tapped his fingernail with his right thumb and deactivated the cloaking field.

He immediately wielded his disruptor pointing it at Bordak. "Get your hands behind your head!" he ordered.

Lazily Bordak obeyed. "As you say," he said with a sigh.

Coming closer, and taking out a small sticky pad, Gilsa used it to get a small layering of Bordak's skin, before using his tricorder to scan the sample. The last thing he needed was a Tren agent in disguise, however from his tricorder readings this was definitely Bordak all right.

"All clear," replied Gilsa, and he stuffed his disruptor back into a holder placed around his waist. "I have to do this procedure because for all I know you could be a Tren agent in disguise."

Bordak though did not seem interested in Gilsa's security measures. "Never mind that, he snarled, "is the deal still on?"

"Yes," said Gilsa somewhat bitterly. "Despite your attempts to destroy that woman," he added.

Bordak looked livid, and his mouth contorted in rage when he spoke. "Destroy? I've kept Megan alive despite my reservations for doing so. I torture her because of the pain and suffering her father inflicted upon me-"

Gilsa though cut Bordak's impassioned words. "Yes yes, you have to do the typical Cardassian revenge and retribution routine on your enemies, and it disgusts me! It is even more disgusting as Megan is innocent of her father's crimes."

A rather nonplussed look came over Bordak's face. "Megan is alive is she not?" he stated sounding uncaring. "That was all you wanted, her survival. Correct?"

Gilsa had to inwardly compose himself as he fought against his anger towards Bordak. "Forget it," he said in a calm voice, and he then handed to Bordak a padd. "Here are the rendezvous coordinates, now just be there with Megan and stay out of sight. When the Tren and Cardassians have left this prison then I'll beam you out of that position and onto my ship. Don't worry if you run into Federation personal as Megan will be safe in their hands, and I will still be able to beam you out of there."

"That's it?" Bordak asked.

"Yes Bordak," said Gilsa sarcastically. "Now leave and get out of my sight!"

There was a sudden rage in Bordak's eyes, but he left Gilsa without saying another word.

How it had come to dealing with Cardassian tyrants just to protect one Vizorian, Gilsa did not know. He had left Megan at the mercy of Bordak's wrath. From the moment Megan had been captured by the Cardassians, Gilsa should have taken her off the planet. But at the time, there was a significant chance that the Tren may have captured Megan first. If the Tren had known Megan was a high value prisoner she would have been beyond Gilsa's ability to save her. Though thankfully Bordak made sure that never happened.

Gilsa knew that Megan's survival was far more important than her actual well-being. There were other reasons for not directly rescuing Megan, though right now these reasons seemed like feeble excuses to Gilsa. However sometime tomorrow Megan would be rescued by the Federation, where she would be safe for the time being, and her suffering would finally end.

He kept telling himself that to try to ease his guilty conscience. With nothing more to do, Gilsa tapped a device on his left wrist, and he beamed off the planet and onto his ship.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5  
**

Day 6, 1300 hours

On board the Defiant's bridge, Ezri sat comfortably in the commander's chair. She was simultaneously using the console mounted to the left of her chair, and keeping her ears, and eyes, open for the first sign of trouble.

This was her first time commanding the Defiant, and when it came to the matter of command Ezri knew the two most important rules; always have a steady and clear voice, and more importantly make sure you were doing something constructive when you sat upon the command chair.

The Defiant had just reached Tau Primia, and Ezri wondered what she would be facing. In a somewhat foolish way she hoped the Cardassians would not put up too much trouble, but these rebels seemed capable of anything...

"Captain!" Kira suddenly said, a note of urgency in her voice. "Five Cardassian ships are decloaking next to the Bajoran ships!"

"Raise shields!" Ezri ordered with a voice that was strong and commanding. "Arm phasers and quantum torpedoes. Mr Weatherby take the Defiant around Tau Primia clockwise so that we can hit the rebel Cardassian ship's from behind. We'll give these Cardassians a taste of their own medicine."

"Aye sir," Max replied, his hands were busy over the console, as he guided the Defiant smoothly around Tau Primia. Aside from being a competent officer on board DS9, Max was also one hell of a pilot.

"Three Bajoran ships have been destroyed," Kira reported to Ezri. "Whatever weapons the Cardassians are using they're cutting straight through Federation shields!"

"How is that possible?" Ezri asked.

"The Cardassian's phaser fire has an incredibly high level of energy," explained Kira. "It is literally punching a hole through a ship's shields and directly hitting that ship, as if the shields were virtually non-existent!"

_Did the Liberty meet its fate like this?_ Ezri thought, _was it simply a Cardassian ambush that crippled the Liberty?_

"Evasive manoeuvres Mr Weatherby, do whatever it takes to avoid the enemy's weapons!" she ordered. "Colonel, fire quantum torpedoes at the closest Cardassian ship!"

Ezri watched the view screen intently as the torpedoes hit the Cardassian ship's shields, hopefully the torpedoes had done some serious damage. "Have we inflicted any damage upon the Cardassian ship?" she asked Kira.

"Minimal damage to the Cardassian ship," said Kira, "the ship's shields have dropped to eighty percent."

"Eighty percent?" said Ezri incredulously. "Mr Weatherby, position the Defiant behind the Cardassian ship! Colonel fire when we are behind the Cardassian ship!"

Ezri had a plan, and any Starfleet captain worth their salt always had a plan B...

"Two more Bajoran ships destroyed," Kira reported, momentarily disrupting Ezri's thinking, "and five more ships are critically damaged!"

"It's a massacre!" Nog said out aloud.

Ezri ignored the comment, instead focusing on the view screen, where the Defiant was facing the rear of the rebel Cardassian ship. Now was the moment to strike...

"Colonel! Launch two flux torpedoes at the Cardassian ship we're behind!"

The flux torpedoes sped through the open space and penetrated straight through the ship's shields. A few milliseconds later, the torpedoes detonated, destroying the Cardassian ship in a matter of seconds.

"Yes!" Kira said to herself, before giving Ezri the obvious news. "Direct hit captain, the Cardassian ship has been destroyed!"

Ezri was in her element. "Mr Holo send out messages to the rest of the ships to fluctuate the phaseband of their phasers and disruptors! That should help to cut through the rebel Cardassian's shields!"

Holo's hands flew across the communications panel with inhuman speed. "Message sent!" he said.

Just briefly Ezri looked at the control panel to the left of her chair, and she studied the sensor readings displayed on a small screen.

Ezri looked for the next Cardassian ship to target. "Mr Weatherby take the Defiant to the nearest-"

The Defiant lurched wildly as the sound of the phased tri-cobalt torpedo exploding deafened everyone on the bridge, and the Defiant's hull roared in protest. Ezri clung on to her chair for dear life as various panels exploded and at least one bulkhead fell to the floor with a massive crash.

Smoke drifted upwards towards the ceiling and the emergency lighting activated on the bridge. Some of the crew next to the exploded panels had burns all over their bodies and they lay upon the floor groaning.

"Damage report!" said Ezri urgently, after the Defiant had stopped shaking.

"Shields are down to ten percent!" Nog said, looking at the stream of data appearing on his console. "Damage to the left of the ship, decks four to eleven have been destroyed on the port side! The left warp nacelle has been ruptured!"

"Port phasers and torpedo launchers are offline!" reported Kira.

Max slapped his left hand against his partially functioning console. "Port thrusters are offline!"

"Mr Nog," said Ezri, "send repair teams to all critically damaged decks, erect shields to all parts of the ship exposed to outer space! Colonel! Launch a flux torpedo at the closest Cardassian ship!"

Kira's whole face was rigid with concentration as she aimed the torpedo at the Cardassian ship. "Direct hit!" she said, "their weapons, engines and shields are all knocked out! Two more rebel Cardassian ships are now destroyed! The fifth one is surrendering!" Kira looked up from her console. "We've got orbital superiority over Tau Primia captain!"

"Casualty report!" demanded Ezri.

"Five crew members are dead," reported Holo after a moment's pause. "Reports from the ship indicate that ten crew members are critically injured, and nine others have minor injuries."

With so many crew members injured and dead, Ezri knew there would be fewer personnel to capture the Tau Primia prison. "Damn," she said quietly. "Colonel, how many ships did this fleet lose?"

"A total of seven ships were destroyed captain, this includes five Bajoran ships and one Cardassian ship. Finally, the Starfleet ship Nebraska was also destroyed. Six ships are critically damaged and they have no shields, weapons or propulsion."

Ezri did not have the time to brood about casualties, this operation had to go ahead. "Mr Holo tell the ships which are functional to send down away teams to Tau Primia. Send to them the coordinates of the beam down point."

"Yes sir," said Holo.

Kira looked disapprovingly at Ezri. "With all due respect captain," she said heatedly, "we've virtually lost half of the planetary assault team. We don't have enough people to beam down to secure the prison. The five Cardassian ships inflicted a lot of damage upon this fleet."

"Objection noted," said Ezri, "but I think the prison will have a small contingent of guards for one simple reason. Most of the guards must have been operating the rebel Cardassian ships. No colonel, the operation goes ahead as planned albeit with fewer people."

Kira opened her mouth slightly and for one moment she looked ready to continue on arguing with Ezri, but she instead backed down. "Max and Nog, you're part of the away team, let's get ready."

Max and Nog left their stations and followed Kira off the bridge. During the phase of the operation were the Tau Primia prison would be captured and secured, Kira was one out of half a dozen away team leaders responsible for this.

No sooner had Kira left the bridge, did Ezri rise from her chair and walked over to the console which Kira had been using. Upon checking the readings from the console, Ezri found out the full extent of the damage to the fleet. One notable feature was that the Bajorans ships had borne the brunt of the rebel Cardassian attack. All of those Bajoran lives lost... Ezri suddenly wondered whether it was wise for Kira to command the Defiant's away teams down on Tau Primia.

_Don't worry, Kira is older and wiser now, she wouldn't do anything reckless or stupid... Hopefully..._

* * *

Megan leaned against the cell door, listening to the activity of the guards who were running back and forth down the corridor. "Something is going on inside this prison," she told Haydra. "Look at all the guard activity, it could be a Federation rescue operation!"

From this Haydra looked mildly hopeful. "I hope so," she said, "however maybe the guards are doing some kind of drill. They've done so before."

"Maybe..." said Megan but her optimism did not ebb. "But I didn't get that sense of urgency when they were doing those drills."

She walked away from the door, and walked past Jack who as usual sat on his spot against the wall. Jack did not seem aware of what was going, but at this moment Megan did not really care. Her mind was racing as she thought about what was happening inside the prison.

A sound came from the cell door, and Megan turned around; someone was opening the door.

The door opened, and Bordak came into the cell, unaccompanied. His left hand held a disruptor, while a knife was stashed in his belt. "You're coming with me," he said, pointing at Megan.

In an instant Jack stood up, and his face was full of rage. "Leave her alone!" he warned Bordak, before suddenly rushing at Bordak who had made a small threatening gesture with his disruptor.

Megan knew what was going to happen before it did. "No!" she warned Jack.

Her warning came to late as Bordak pulled out a Cardassian combat knife and slashed it against Jack's abdomen. "Foolish human," Bordak snarled.

Jack collapsed to the floor clutching his stomach, gasping for air. Haydra hurried over to Jack and held his body upright with her arms around his back so that Jack was sitting up.

Now Jack glared at Bordak, and his arm cradled the gash around his stomach. "You are going to pay for your crimes Bordak," he wheezed, with anger spilling from every syllable. "The Federation are coming, and they don't take to kindly to torturers and murderers!"

Bordak's face remained expressionless, and he placed the knife back into his belt. "How astute," he told Jack, suddenly Bordak pointed his phaser at Megan and fired.

She collapsed, and Haydra backed away from Bordak looking fearful, leaving Jack flat on his back against the floor.

In a cold uncaring motion, Bordak stepped over Jack and picked Megan up, carrying Megan over his shoulders. He walked out of the cell before stopping. "However that is if you live to see the moment," he said to Jack.

With that Bordak left the cell, as Jack lay there dying.

* * *

It took Bordak ten minutes to leave the prison while carrying Megan to the rendezvous point. Inside a shallow cave lit up by the yellow sunlight, Bordak threw Megan to the ground and he waited to be beamed off the planet. He was finally going to leave this desolate place and start a new life. Two years of running the Tau Primia prison had taken their toll on Bordak, he was even getting tired of torturing the prisoners.

Then he heard Megan stir, and this reminded him there were some prisoners which he always enjoyed torturing...

Bordak walked over to Megan and he unsheathed his knife. He crouched down, pointing the knife at her face.

Megan's eyes flickered open and they widened at what they saw.

"Give me a reason why I should let you live Megan," said Bordak, "because you're at my mercy."

Megan gradually stood up, carefully avoiding the knife, and all the while looking very weary. "No, there's more to this," she said slowly. "You don't torture for fun do you? I've seen it in your eyes, you torture me out of hatred. It's as if you want revenge and yet you cannot properly satisfy your pain and rage."

A blind, cold rage surged through Bordak, and he find it infuriating that after two years he still had not broken this woman. "Words… just words," he shouted, as the hand holding the knife started shaking. "Your presumption won't save you now! I've waited too long..."

Now Megan was standing up, with her back to the cave's wall, and she stared straight into Bordak's eyes. "Fine, kill me then," she said defiantly. "Or perhaps you are afraid to do so because I am not strapped down and helpless?"

"Look at you," sneered Bordak, "you are malnourished, weak and broken. You think you can beat me?"

Megan's face became absolutely still, a mask of danger and deadliness. "Yeah I think I can," she said at last.

Anger flared across her entire face and she suddenly attacked Bordak with a well-aimed kick to his stomach.

Bordak staggered backwards, wheezing and wielding the knife. "I should have killed you two years ago you bitch!" he screamed.

Losing control, Bordak charged at Megan with his knife held out and he was determined to utterly cut her to pieces.

* * *

In the prison's central courtyard, Starfleet away teams were materialising out of thin air. Kira, Max, Bashir and Nog materialized at the centre of the courtyard.

There were no Cardassian guards in sight, instead there were dozens of prisoners running towards them. Some of the prisoners were shouting with joy, others were screaming for help, while hundreds of other prisoners were lying on the floor. Many were too weak to stand up, and the rest must have been in their cells.

It was a revolting and nauseating sight to Bashir, to see such suffering, and the dirty condition of the prisoners.

"My God!" said Max in horrified tones. "It's like they were rats stuffed in a cage!"

Nog's eyes were full of anger and it took an awful lot to anger Nog.

However it was Kira who looked the most taken back. She was simply standing there, her mouth slightly open and the only sign of her anger was the clenching of her fists.

Bashir looked briefly at Kira in concern. He had never seen Kira this angry for years, but he diverted his attention to the scene around him.

Taking out his tricorder, Bashir quickly scanned the entire prison. The tricorder showed the life signs of hundreds of prisoners. Clearly the situation was far more serious than he had anticipated, and he needed backup. He tapped his comm badge to contact the Defiant. "Captain can you spare any medical personnel from the Defiant?" he asked. "The situation in this prison is a lot worse than I feared."

"_I can spare you two medical personal but no more,_" came Ezri's voice, "_and I'll contact other ships asking them to send more medical teams._"

Bashir fell silent contemplating the task at hand, while Kira jerked out of her trance-like state.

"Come on!" Kira said forcibly to the away team. "Let's get these prisoners out of here ASAP, Max you're with me!"

While Kira and Max left the courtyard, Bashir was conducting more scans of the prison with his tricorder while he walked with Nog towards the prison cells.

"It's utterly barbaric!" exclaimed Bashir as he proceeded through the long and narrow prison corridors. "If these tricorder readings are correct, there are about 1200 prisoners! How on earth do I treat so many people?"

Nog though, was not listening to Bashir since his attention had clearly caught something else.

"Julian!" said Nog urgently. "Come over here quickly, this man's got a stab wound to his stomach!"

Bashir hurried over from another prisoner he had just started examining and went inside the prison cell, already Nog was inside trying to comfort the man.

"It's all right," Nog said to the man, "a doctor's coming to heal the stab wound. What is your name?"

The man's lips barely moved as he spoke. "Jack Smith, I'm a crew member of the starship Liberty..." Jack stopped talking and then grimaced at the pain coming from his stomach.

"Are you coming Julian?" Nog said impatiently.

"I'm here," Bashir replied, and he scanned Jack with the medical tricorder. "Okay... A single knife wound to the stomach, internal bleeding but not to much blood loss," he reeled off, while taking out a dermal regenerator from his medkit.

"What happened?" he asked Jack while running the dermal regenerator over the wound.

"It was Bordak," Jack explained, "he slashed a knife through my stomach when I tried to stop him from taking Megan."

"Who?" asked Bashir.

"Megan Felpes, the first officer of the Liberty," replied Jack. "Bordak's taken her somewhere, I think Bordak is going to kill Megan!"

With those last slightly hysterical words from Jack, Nog promptly tapped his comm badge to contact Kira. "I'm onto it," he told Jack. "Colonel, a prisoner called Megan Felpes is missing and has been taken by Gul Bordak! If this is the case, then Bordak may still be in the immediate vicinity of this prison!"

"_Leave it to me, I'll find Bordak!_" said Kira's angry voice.

Bashir had nearly patched Jack up. "Your stable for the moment," he told Jack, "but you are going to need further surgery. Now I've really got to check up on the other prisoners, okay?"

"Yeah sure," said Jack nodding.

Jack watched Bashir leave the cell while Nog stayed with Jack.

"Thank God you came," said Jack, "otherwise, my life would have ended in this horrendous prison."

"Do you have any family?" Nog asked, slightly timidly.

"No," said Jack, who seemed almost restless despite his injury. "I hope they find Megan, she was the only friend I had in this hell-hole. If she's dead..."

No more words came out of Jack's mouth, and his eyes were full of a strange guilt.

"Don't worry, Kira will find Megan," said Nog in reassuring tones.

* * *

Kira and Max were hurrying down the prison corridors searching for the missing prisoner Megan Felpes. It had been a long time since Kira had felt this angry before. Arriving at the prison was like going back in time for her, back to the days of the Bajoran refuge camps, when she was a skinny little child foraging for food trying to survive, and seeing her family members die one by one from malnutrition or a brutal Cardassian attack.

Her old hatred of the Cardassians flared up once more. She could not get it out of her mind the terrible condition of the prisoners, and the brutality that the Cardassians had wrought upon them. Only one thing mattered to her; finding Gul Bordak and bringing him to justice.

Max broke the silence between them. "What is wrong with these Cardassians?" he asked. "Is it their nature to be so cruel?"

_He is so naive_ thought Kira angrily.

"Nature?" she replied with some derision. "Many Cardassians are misguided because of their government and because of Central Command. You are only seeing one part of the Cardassians, and that is there military. The Cardassians you see here in this prison are the Cardassians of old, the last remnants of the old order."

Nog's voice chirped from Kira's comm badge. "iNog here. I've checked the prison database and there are 1240 prisoners! But so far we've found 1200 prisoners, not including Megan. Colonel someone has taken away forty prisoners and by the looks of it they were all of high status; captains and so forth. People who knew a lot of information about the organisation they once worked for./i"

"Acknowledged," responded Kira.

Now they were outside of the prison, and Max was scanning the surrounding area with his tricorder.

"I'm getting a Federation signal two hundred metres to the north," he told Kira, "it could be Megan..."

"Or some kind of trap..." said Kira. "If Bordak is there I'm going to risk it."

She stopped walking and grabbed Max's arm, and looked into his face. "At the slightest sign of trouble, leave me and call for reinforcements have you got that?"

"But you could be killed!" said Max, looking very surprised by Kira's orders.

Kira looked at him straight in the eye as she had to do so this, to caution Max. "I will not have you be killed or worse captured by the Cardassians. Your word Max."

"Fine," promised Max a little resentfully.

He lead the way using his tricorder to guide him as Kira followed, she had already taken out her disruptor, and was preparing for the worst.

Max stopped suddenly, his tricorder aimed at a cave. "It's in that cave I'm detect-"

"Be quiet!" Kira whispered, she strained her ears listening to what was going on. "There's some sort of commotion in that cave, can you hear it?"

"Yes," said Max.

The more she listened, Kira could tell there were only two people. "Okay there are only two people," she told Max. "Weatherby you go to the left of the cave's entrance and I'll go to the right, on my signal we'll storm the cave together."

She and Max stealthily approached the entrance to the cave, climbing up the sandy scree slope built into the backdrop of the rocky cliffs. One thing Kira noticed were a set of footprints on the scree leading up to the cave, and she deduced that this person must have carried the second person if there was only one pair of footprints.

Sometimes Kira slipped a bit on the loose material but she doubted the sound would have carried into the cave, giving the faint sounds of commotion that could still be heard coming from it. When she and Max reached the entrance, they could hear laughter coming out of the cave.

"Was that the best you could do Megan?" said a Cardassian who was gloating.

Kira signalled to Max, and she went into the cave with Max covering from behind. Her disruptor was aimed straight at the Cardassian's back.

"Freeze!" she said. "Drop the knife now!"

The Cardassian turned around and he was grinning like a maniac; it was Bordak. He dropped the bloodied knife upon the orange sandy floor, and moved to one side of the cave with the palms of his hands wide open.

"Weatherby check the woman," said Kira, though her eye was constantly on Bordak.

"You're not going to catch me..." taunted Bordak, as Max hurried past to check on Megan.

"Where can you go Bordak?" said Kira in a triumphant voice. "Your prison is in Federation hands and your ships are destroyed or captured! You are out of options!"

Max then looked at Kira rather desperately and she could see blood all over Max's hands.

"We need to get her to the Defiant's sickbay immediately!" said Max sounding so urgent he was half-shouting. "There are multiple stab wounds all over her body!"

Kira contacted the Defiant and took a brief glance of Megan, there were indeed stab wounds all over Megan's body. Though somehow Megan was still conscious, laying down in a pool of her own blood, and one of Megan's slashed hands clung on to Max's arm. There was a look of helplessness on Megan's face which disturbed Kira greatly.

"Kira to the Defiant," she said. "We've found Gul Bordak and another prisoner, this prisoner is seriously injured with multiple stab wounds, and she is with Weatherby. Lock onto Weatherby's coordinates and beam both of them to the Defiant's sickbay!"

At that moment Kira saw Max pick Megan up in his arms.

There was Max standing up, one arm below Megan's shoulders and her neck, the other arm below her thighs. Megan's left arm was resting against Max's chest, while her right arm and legs were hanging limply in position.

Now Megan stared at Max's face, and Kira could see Megan's lips were moving but no sound came out of them and instead some blood trickled out of her mouth. A few seconds later Max and Megan were beamed off the planet.

With Max and Megan out of the way, Kira turned her attention to Bordak; it was just between her and Bordak. "As for you Bordak," she hissed, "you are facing a lifetime in prison for your monstrosities!"

Bordak was simply smiling. "Not likely," he said, and suddenly a transport beam enveloped him.

Kira fired a charge from her disruptor at Bordak, but it was to late as Bordak had vanished. So instead, she then hammered her comm badge.

"This is Kira to the Defiant!" she said furiously. "Somebody has beamed Gul Bordak off this planet!"

"_What!_" said a surprised Ezri. "_But there are no other ships orbiting Tau Primia aside from this strike force! I'm sorry Kira if the ship was a few parsecs away from Tau Primia, and it was equipped with a very precise transporter device, it could have just beamed up Gul Bordak. However this is the Badlands, you can barely spot ships from even one parsec away…_

"_So this ship is probably making a prompt departure out of this star system, to where who knows. I'm afraid we don't have the time or the resources to go looking for Bordak._"

"Understood," said Kira through gritted teeth, and she tapped her comm badge again to terminate the comm link.

She was hoping for revenge, a part of her was desperate to kill Bordak, to punish him for what he did to Megan and all the other prisoners. However, all Kira felt was anger, anger that Bordak had escaped justice. She should have killed Bordak right there and then, but she did not have the gumption to do so, and Bordak had exploited that weakness.

Taking a deep calming breath, Kira felt her anger ebb slightly. Now was not the time to be angry and self-brooding, not when there were prisoners to be rescued. So she headed back to the prison camp to assist the away teams.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Day 5, 1700 hours

Ezri headed to the sickbay as Bashir had requested her there due to discovering something 'unusual' concerning Megan. As she walked, Ezri thought about the operation and how it was a general success, with nearly all the prisoners rescued, except for 39 prisoners who were missing. Those prisoners were presumed dead, and another irksome thing was that Gul Bordak had somehow escaped. It felt almost embarrassing to Ezri considering how Bordak was totally cornered and yet eluded capture.

On a different matter, the Defiant was now carrying twenty rescued prisoners, including the Liberty's first officer Megan Felpes. Ezri entered the sickbay and this room was a little smaller than the bridge. It had five biobeds, a replicator, a computer console and various storage compartments. Just like the rest of the ship, the sickbay's walls were that same dull grey while they were illuminated by the white overhead lighting.

Ezri put on her best professional face she could muster, so as to deal with Bashir. "You called for me doctor?"

Bashir moved over towards Ezri, and his hand clutched onto some sort of small cylindrical device. "I found something very... unusual in Megan Felpes brain."

"The Liberty's first officer Megan Felpes?" Ezri asked, looking briefly at Megan.

"The same," replied Bashir, he showed Ezri the device. "I removed this device from her brain."

Ezri continued to look at it, and then the expression on her face slackened. "But that's... no..." she said disbelievingly, "surely not! That is a Federation neural depolarizer! But there's only one Federation organisation who uses such a device..."

"Section 31," finished Bashir, with a slight glint in his eye.

"So have we found a Section 31 agent or have the Cardassians planted it in her brain?" asked Ezri to Bashir who knew a lot more about Section 31 than she did.

"I'm certain it was Section 31 who planted it in Felpes," said Bashir. "Besides the Cardassians have something similar, take Garak for instance when I treated that faulty endorphin device embedded in his brain."

Ezri decided she needed some more answers, answers which only Megan could provide. "Can you revive her?" she asked Bashir.

"I wouldn't recommend it," he said stiffly, "she's recovering from twenty five knife wounds, and it's only been an hour after her surgery, but if you insist..."

Bashir walked over to the bio bed where Megan was resting, she was still wearing the tattered, filthy and bloodied Starfleet uniform. The sickbay was not supplied with medical gowns, primarily because the sickbay's purpose was for patching up people's injuries and not for providing the injured with luxurious medical provisions.

Bending over slightly, Bashir then placed a hypospray to Megan's neck, which still looked scarred.

Megan stirred, and her eyes searched over all of her surroundings. "Where am I?" she said, sounding quite confused.

"You are on board the starship Defiant, I'm captain Ezri Dax," Ezri explained. "I have a few questions for you. The first question is about this."

Ezri held up the neural depolarizer and studied the expression on Megan's face very carefully.

"What is it?" asked Megan, she sounded genuinely curious, and she had lifted herself into a sitting position on the bed while her long hair drifted down her back.

"The neural depolarizer I pulled out of your brain," answered Bashir, his expression carefully blank. "It is of Federation design."

"The only organisation in Starfleet which uses this device is Section 31," said Ezri.

"What is Section 31?" asked Megan, she looked very tired and she was squinting because of the brightness of the sickbay's lights.

Ezri could not tell whether Megan was lying or not. "Then why was a Federation neural depolarizer found inside your brain?" she asked slightly impatiently.

"I don't know," answered Megan who was frowning a little. "Perhaps the Cardassians planted the neural depolarizer. Besides if you're implying that I'm a Section 31 agent, whatever this Section 31 is, why didn't Section 31 activate the neural depolarizer when I was captured by the Cardassians?"

Megan looked at Ezri in a perplexed manner. "It doesn't make any sense."

"But-"

Bashir though interrupted Ezri, and gave her a rather angry glare. "That's enough questions, Ms Felpes really needs to rest."

Megan lay back on the bed, her face expressionless, and even her eyes seemed dead, while Bashir checked her medical readouts.

When Ezri had left the sickbay, she felt that Megan had only given her more questions than answers. What shocked her was how composed Megan seemed, despite Megan being brutally tortured for two years. _Beaten, electrocuted, raped, and God knows how many other abominations and cruelties she suffered, and yet Megan doesn't show any outward sign of distress or trauma. Clearly Megan is hiding something, but what?_

* * *

On the Defiant's bridge, Ezri remained deep in thought, as she sat there on the commander's chair, staring out at the view screen. The Defiant and the other ships were only minutes away from leaving Tau Primia. Most of the damaged ships managed to repair their warp drives, while the ships that had not were going to be towed back to DS9.

Thankfully, the Defiant would not have to be towed. Because of Nog's and Holo's speedy repair work they had sealed up the left warp nacelle, which meant that the Defiant's warp drive would be operational.

With the operation over, Ezri expected the journey back to DS9 to proceed without incident...

"Captain there's an unidentified ship decloaking directly ahead of us!" said Max, looking somewhat unnerved by the sudden appearance of this ship.

"On screen!" said Ezri, she looked briefly at the sleek ship. The ship had a brown/dark grey colouring, and it loosely resembled a Breen warship in shape, except it was twice as big. "Colonel scan for weapons, defences and such..." ordered Ezri.

Kira frowned at the readouts she was getting. "Scanning... That's odd; the sensor beams are just bouncing off that ship, I'm sorry captain, all I can tell you is that this ship appears to be heavily armed. There are all sorts of weaponry which resemble phaser banks, torpedo launchers, pulse cannons and possibly disruptors."

_Great_, thought Ezri, _such a ship could probably destroy the entire fleet of Bajoran, Federation and Cardassian ships._

"They're hailing us captain!" said Max.

"Patch them through," she replied.

Ezri looked at the screen and there sitting in a chair, presumably on the ship's bridge, was a male humanoid. His skin looked almost human like while ridge bones ran along his forehead and his jaw. He had black hair, which came to the length of his shoulders and his forehead was visible. Along his nose were ridges, very pronounced V-shape ridges, they were about an inch long running up the length of his nose. His eyes were the feature that caught Ezri's attention the most, they were a fiery blue colour and they seemed to shine.

The humanoid finally spoke. "This is captain Abarzjid of the Tren Empire, commander of the ship Retribution." His voice sounded harsh and cold. "You are trespassing in Tren territory, and you are to maintain position where you will wait for Tren reinforcements to arrive. When they come all of the transgressing ships will be impounded, and their crew repatriated. Failure to comply will result in your destruction."

iSo much for a friendly first contact/i Ezri thought. "Captain Abarzjid, this is captain Dax of the United Federation of Planets speaking. I did not realise this area of space belonged to the Tren. Forgive my unintentional mistake but if you would let me explain why-"

Abarzjid cut straight through Ezri's excuse. "Talking your way out of this changes nothing captain! In two hours time, Tren reinforcements will come, and you will surrender yourselves, or face... consequences."

There was a smug look on Abarzjid's face, and Ezri did not like his attitude at all. "Captain I don't take nicely to-"

The screen went blank. "They've cut the transmission," commented Max.

It just had to be Ezri's luck that a snag had to happen right at the end of the operation. "Right! I want the senior staff to report to the Mess Hall right now, to discuss this situation with the Tren!"

One Tren ship was not going to stop her from returning to DS9.

* * *

In the Defiant's sickbay; Bashir was busy treating the prisoners when out of the corner of his eye he noticed Megan who was sitting up and looking at him.

"What's happening?" she said. "How come we've stopped?"

"A Tren ship has decloaked, they've stopped us and the other ships," explained Bashir.

Megan's eyebrows rose. "Did you say Tren?"

"Yes," said Bashir.

At that moment, Megan leapt out of her bed and strode over to the sickbay door.

"Wait you can't just leave!" said Bashir incredulously.

Megan paused and turned her neck slightly towards Bashir. "Your captain doesn't know what she is facing... but I do," she said and she left the sickbay, still wearing her tattered Starfleet uniform.

Bashir sighed. "It's just not my day," he said, and left the sickbay to pursue Megan.

* * *

Ezri sat down on the top of one table, while Kira, Holo, Max and Nog were gathered around in front of her. She was not sure what to do concerning the Tren ship, but she felt certain the senior staff had some ideas. "Suggestions?" she asked them.

"We could attack them," suggested Nog, "if we cannot reason with these Tren then attacking is our only option."

"Maybe we should just ignore their demands and go our merry way," said Holo, though everyone seemed to ignore that suggestion.

Kira was clearly thinking about Nog's idea. "I wouldn't recommend attacking these Tren. I've checked the rebel Cardassian ship armaments, and they're literally duplicates of the weaponry this Tren ship has. If five Cardassian ships could do that much damage with adapted Tren weaponry, just imagine how powerful actual Tren weaponry would be."

"We outnumber them thirty to one!" Max said, sounding exasperated as if everyone was going about this problem the wrong way.

"Twenty to one, if you count the total amount of ships with functioning weapons and shields," remained Ezri. "Let's not forget about the 39 missing prisoners, it's more than likely they are on that Tren ship. I guess it comes down to-"

Ezri stopped speaking, when she heard the door open. She saw Megan briskly walking towards her, closely followed by Bashir.

In her tattered, dirty and bloodstained uniform, Megan was quite a sight.

Bashir looked mightily embarrassed about the whole incident. "I'm sorry captain but when she heard about-"

"The Tren will not attack this ship captain!" said Megan in a loud voice, interrupting Bashir.

Kira looked suspiciously at Megan. "How could you know that?" she demanded.

Megan turned to face Kira. "Because when Bordak was torturing me, sometimes he was interrupted by Abarzjid." Megan's voice became slightly quieter. "They didn't trouble to keep their voices down and I heard things..."

"Such as?" inquired Ezri.

Megan turned her gaze to Ezri before answering. "The Tren are scouting this region and Bordak was working for the Tren. I'm certain Abarzjid said there was only one Tren ship supplying Bordak. Now, if that is true then Abarzjid is bluffing, and so there are no Tren reinforcements or to be precise no immediate Tren reinforcements coming our way."

Ezri tried to keep the doubt from her voice. "And you are absolutely certain about this?" she asked Megan.

"If the Tren are scouting the Badlands, then they will not suddenly attack us. So I'm saying to you captain to ignore Abarzjid's threats and proceed to DS9!"

It was a convincing argument for Ezri and the best idea she had heard of. At the very least, this idea did not involve directly confronting the Tren ship. More importantly Ezri did not want to start a war between the Federation and the Tren Empire. Because of her decision, it would mean that the Tren would be the ones starting a war if they decided to intervene.

"Fine I'll take your advice, it's the best suggestion I've heard so far... Now I need to speak to doctor Bashir and colonel Kira in private, staff meeting adjourned!"

Megan walked out of the room along with Max, Holo and Nog

Ezri turned her attention upon Kira to glean the colonel's reaction to Megan's information. "What do you think Kira?"

Kira frowned slightly before responding. "Well Felpes' information changes everything, but this whole situation doesn't seem right to me."

"How so?" asked Ezri, while she noticed Bashir exchange a significant glance with Kira. It was apparent that both Bashir and Kira seemed quite suspicious of Megan's knowledge about the Tren.

Bashir answered Ezri's question. "It's Felpes sir. For someone who has been tortured for two years, who has suffered unimaginable cruelties, she seems remarkably composed after such an ordeal."

"I've noticed," said Ezri, "so what are you suggesting?'

"Her attitude seems unusual..." Bashir paused and looked briefly uncomfortable before continuing on. "The other former prisoners are incredibly emotionally injured, especially the Starfleet prisoners. That's to be fully expected, and others are in a complete state of shock, whereas Felpes seems so calm. I know that people have different ways of coping with severe emotional trauma, but it's as if she has been trained to cope with situations like this."

"Supporting the theory that she is a Section 31 agent," said Ezri.

Kira's gaze sharpened, and she jerked her head around to look at Ezri. "Section 31 agent?" she repeated ominously. "Captain we could have a much bigger problem on our hands than just a Tren ship!"

It was a fair observation, but Ezri considered the Tren ship as the main problem. "We'll deal with Megan later," she told Kira, "right now what matters is the Tren ship blocking our path. Dismissed."

Bashir and Kira left the conference room.

Ezri remained seated on top of the table as she mulled matters over in her mind Despite her suspicions concerning Megan, she still believed that calling the Tren's bluff was the best option. She would deal with Megan later. Another thing that concerned Ezri were some of the serious ulterior motives behind the Federation/Cardassian joint strike operation.

Was the operation just an elaborate cover for getting rid of Bordak? Did Section 31 want to repatriate a missing agent of theirs? Out of all this, Ezri wondered just how Megan fitted into this complicated puzzle.

Leaving the mess hall, Ezri returned to the bridge, and when she arrived there, she noticed Megan and Bashir sitting by the consoles close to the master systems display. Clearly, Bashir wanted Megan back in the sickbay as soon as humanely possible.

"Chief hail the Tren ship!" ordered Ezri, the moment she sat down on the commander's chair.

"Channel open captain," said Nog.

On the view screen appeared Abarzjid and his expression was blank.

Ezri remained in her chair as she spoke to Abarzjid. "Captain Abarzjid I refuse to submit to your demands. This is neutral space, and I see no evidence to indicate that it belongs to the Tren. "

"Don't be a fool captain!" snarled Abarzjid, his eyes seemed to burn when he was angry.

"Captain," said Ezri with a small smile. "Let's drop this charade once and for all! You have no Tren reinforcements! The only other Tren ships are scouting the Badlands and elsewhere."

She thought Abarzjid looked slightly surprised, and continued on with her argument. "I do not want to start a war and neither do you. You don't have enough support to start an all out war with the Federation! Now what I want to know is what you've done with the 39 prisoners you are holding captain!"

It was Abarzjid's turn to smile. "We are carrying no prisoners, your sensors should have picked that up."

Ezri's voice stayed light, but there was anger in her eyes. "Our sensors haven't been able to penetrate your ship captain, which is very convenient, so now I have no way of knowing."

"You can't make any accusation without evidence captain!" replied Abarzjid with a sneer. "If there is no evidence then I see no problem!"

Ezri stood up to confront Abarzjid, and now she sounded angry. "Do take heed captain, the Federation does not tolerate lightly factions who kidnap Federation citizens or Starfleet officers! You have been warned!"

She paused looking briefly at Abarzjid. "Turn the channel off!" she said to Nog. "Mr Weatherby set a course to DS9, warp eight. Chief tell the other ships to follow us."

The Defiant lurched slightly as it prepared to go to warp, and Ezri sat back down on her chair. Turning her head to the left, Ezri glanced at Megan from the corner of her eye. "Here's hoping that the Tren are bluffing," she said to Megan.

"They're bluffing captain," said Megan.

With an almighty of shakes, the Defiant lurched so badly that Ezri was thrown off her chair. She quickly sat back down upon it, and it was to her horror that the Tren were not bluffing. The Defiant had stopped moving, and Ezri could tell this because the vibrations were ever so slightly different.

"The Tren ship has fired upon us!" said Kira, and even she sounded a little surprised by this attack.

"Return fire!" said Ezri in a cold fury. "Mr Holo, send a message out to all functioning ships to attack the Tren ship!"

"Message sent," said Holo.

"The Tren ship has set a course directly the USS Feltrick!" reported Kira.

"Mr Weatherby follow the Tren ship!" said Ezri, and her hands were clutching tightly onto the armrests, while her face looked very angry. "Colonel when we are in range fire two flux torpedoes at its aft portion!"

With three consecutive jolts of the ship, Ezri was nearly thrown out of her chair again, and behind her to her right, another bulkhead dislodged, smashing through a good portion of the ceiling. One end of the bulkhead made a huge thud against the floor, and it remained there at an angle, partially obstructing access to one of the doors that provided an exit to the bridge.

"Direct hits around decks one!" said Nog, who sounded really on edge. "Structural integrity is holding barely!"

Just when Ezri thought things could not get any worse, Holo reported from his station.

"I've lost all contact with the Feltrick! It's destroyed!"

Just briefly there was a silence, and it became clear to everyone that the Tren were not simply here to stop the Defiant and the other ships from leaving. The Tren were determined to destroy ievery/i ship.

Bashir who was sitting by a console, behind of Ezri, looked more stunned than most. "The Feltrick had over a thousand people on board," he said in a hollow numb voice, "including nearly a hundred of the rescued prisoners."

Just briefly Ezri swivelled her neck around, to glance at Bashir. "Doctor, shouldn't you be in sickbay?"

"Of course," said Bashir a little distractedly. "Ms Felpes follow me."

As Bashir and Megan left, Ezri took one quick look behind her and noticed Megan's face. The poor woman looked devastated by the turn of events, but Ezri did not blame Megan and right now it did not really matter anyway.

"We're in range," reported Kira, and this brought Ezri's whole attention back on the Tren ship.

"Fire!" said Ezri in a fierce voice.

She looked at the viewscreen, and saw the green tracered flux torpedoes slip through the Tren ship's shields. Upon contact with the ship, there were two bright explosions, filled with small blue, yellow and purple strands of energy. The shape of the explosions was like a thin jet fanning outwards, and Ezri could just make out the bits of hull plating from the Tren ship.

But somehow Ezri could simply tell there did not appear to be any substantial damage. "Did we inflict any damage?" she asked Kira a little hopefully.

"Negative," replied Kira who looked rather grim. "The torpedoes hit some sort of reactive armour, and the torpedoes did not penetrate the hull."

If flux torpedoes could not inflict any real damage then Ezri knew nothing in the Defiant's armament that would. Still she was not going to give up that easily…

"Helm, keep following the Tren ship, and when we are parallel to them, approach from a starboard position."

"We're not doing any damage to the Tren ship," said Kira almost blandly, and she shot Ezri a somewhat challenging look, which almost seemed to demand better from Ezri.

"A Bajoran ship and two Cardassian ships have been destroyed!" reported Holo.

"Damn!" said Ezri through clenched teeth, and she was torn between frustration and anger. "Mr Weatherby are we in position?"

"Five more seconds captain," said Max.

"Good," responded Ezri. "On my mark colonel throw everything we have at that ship!"

/

The Defiant came down upon the Tren ship, swooping downwards. All of a sudden the Defiant's phasers and quantum torpedoes fired, but all of that firepower was just absorbed by the orange coloured Tren shields.

Now the Defiant was in danger as it streaked leftwards, and its aft portion was exposed to the Tren ship. Sure enough the Tren ship fired three bursts from its port phaser banks, all of which cut through the Defiant's shields and hit its aft impulse drive.

While the Defiant spiralled out of control, the Tren ship was continuing a course towards two Cardassian galor class ships. Despite its huge size, the Retribution had considerable mobility, and with red coloured torpedoes firing, every single one of them hit their targets.

The explosions took out huge chunks of the front of the Cardassian ships, as both the command decks and the deflector dishes were blown to pieces. A few moments later, and a bigger explosion came from the aft portion of both ships, and this was there antimatter containment being breached.

And still the Retribution pressed forwards in its attack, and it looked unstoppable as it evened up the odds...

/

With each bout of shaking from the ship, Ezri thought the Defiant was not going to make it. Things looked really bad when inertial dampers were partially down, and the Defiant made an erratic course in a series of growing spirals. However Nog had managed to quickly rectify the situation, but there was nothing he could immediately do to repair the impulse drive.

Inwardly Ezri was totally stumped as how to stop the Tren ship. It seemed unbeatable, and Ezri just knew the Tren outclassed both the Federation and Cardassians in terms of shields, hull armour, maneuverability and weapons.

"Mr Holo, open hailing frequencies to Gul Ackaron's ship!" said Ezri.

"Hailing frequencies open sir!"

The viewscreen displayed the scene on the bridge from Ackaron's ship, and it looked more worse for wear than the Defiant did.

"Gul Ackaron are you having any luck penetrating the Tren ship's shields?" asked Ezri.

"No captain!" yelled Ackaron, and briefly he looked around when a small explosion occurred behind him. "But we are damaging the shields gradually..."

"By which time most of our ships will be destroyed!" exclaimed Ezri, and she needed a better option than that.

"Then there is no alternative..." said Ackaron quietly, so quietly that Ezri almost did not hear what he had said.

Finally a rather resolute look fixed itself upon Ackaron's face. "Captain your mission was to rescue the prisoners from Tau Primia, and mine was to capture Gul Bordak. Well now it seems my mission is to stop this Tren ship for the very safety of the Cardassian Union. Get your ships out of there captain!"

"That is suicide!" protested Ezri. "You don't expect to hold out against Abarzjid's ship?"

"My mind is made up! Get your ships out of here and don't look back! My ships can hold off the Tren!"

Ezri did not want Ackaron to sacrifice himself and his ships, but if this was what he wanted to do then she had to take this chance to get the Defiant and the other Federation ships to safety…

The ship shook again reminding Ezri of the urgency of the situation. "Understood..." she told Ackaron.

"One more thing captain... I hope history does not forget the valour and sacrifice ten Cardassian ships displayed against the Tren while trying to protect your Federation ships and the Tau Primia prisoners!"

"History will not forget Gul! Dax out."

Immediately after this, Ezri tapped in some commands on a console to her left, so that she could contact all the Federation ships. "This is captain Dax to all Starfleet and Bajoran ships, break off your engagement from the Tren ship and set a course back to DS9 at maximum warp!"

At this moment, Nog cricked his neck around, to give Ezri an anxious troubled look. "Captain I'm not sure the Defiant can handle anything above warp nine in this state!"

"Divert power away from the shields and weapons and pour it into structural integrity, that should do the trick!"

"Aye captain, but even then this ship will only handle warp 9.2 at best."

"Good!" shouted Ezri, just as the ship shook at that particular moment. "Now get us out of here, warp nine!"

There was a shaking of a different sort as the bulkheads and structural framework strained and groaned as the Defiant accelerated to warp nine. Ezri simply clung on to her chair for dear life and she would rather have died in battle than having her ship fall to pieces in mid-warp.

Finally the shaking stopped when the Defiant reached warp nine, and it was a welcome sight to Ezri to see the stars and various other luminaries streak by, albeit tinged with the gas and plasma clouds of the Badlands.

Everyone on the bridge was now breathing a little easier.

"We made it in one piece!" commented Kira, who looked just as relieved as everyone else.

"So we have..." said Ezri, though her mind was soon back on the battle still raging between the Tren and Cardassians. "Colonel, is the Tren ship following us or any other Federation ship?"

The relief in the air was punctuated, as all ears were on Kira.

"Negative on that," said Kira, whose eyes were closely examining the readings from one screen on her console. "The Tren ship is still engaging the Cardassian ships."

"May the Prophets help those Cardassians..." said Ezri quietly.

"They don't stand a chance!" said Nog, and he sounded very concerned.

"Maybe not," said Ezri grimly. "But if their sacrifice gives us the time we need to return to Federation territory, and safety, then Ackaron's sacrifice would have not been in vain."

The minutes passed by, and Ezri waited for confirmation that either the Defiant had reached Federation territory, or the Tren ship was pursuing them. Was Ackaron still alive, was his ship still in one piece? He could not possibly be still fighting on… Surely the Tren would have overpowered all the Cardassian ships.

"Approaching Federation territory captain!" said Max, and he more than anyone else was the most relieved to return to safe territory. "We did it!" he added, though more to himself.

They sure did, but whereas Max sounded a bit enthusiastic about this, Ezri was anything but. A huge amount of life and ships had been lost in this operation which so very nearly became a total failure…

"Mr Nog, do sensors register any Cardassian or Tren ship in the vicinity of the Tau Primia planet?"

"It's really hard to tell through all of this interference," said Nog cautiously, and he looked all the more intently at the sensor readings. "I am getting patchy readings of one Cardassian ship, maybe two, but knowing the Badlands these could be sensor echoes or ghosts."

"I don't believe it!" said Kira in a hollow voice, and she had turned her chair around to face Ezri. "Ackaron and his ships held off the Tren for over half an hour! He fought right to the end."

"No doubt..." murmured Ezri, whose gaze was on the viewscreen.

Deep inside of her mind she thought about everything that went wrong with the operation. The heavy casualties, Bordak's disappearance, that aggressive Tren captain… How Bordak transported off the planet and who these Tren were, had to be the two biggest questions plaguing Ezri's mind. She had read the intelligence reports and there was no mention about the Tren.

It seemed to Ezri like a rather big intelligence failure that had cost thousands of lives. She knew she would not sleep easily for many nights. Though she was accustomed to loss and she had seen colleagues die during her previous career, it never got any easier. Ezri had to keep reminding herself that this operation had been worth it; nearly a thousand prisoners had been freed. That number would have been higher if it were not for the Tren attack.

One thing did really stick in Ezri's mind; the next time there was a confrontation with the Tren, she wanted the playing field levelled and even. She really hoped that she had seen the last of these Tren, and that this attack was not the start of something more serious, and more sinister…


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

A terrible guilt festered in the depths of Megan's bowels as she headed for the Defiant's sanitation room. If she had not given Ezri that advice about calling the Tren's bluff, that terrible battle may never have taken place. But then the Defiant and the rest of the fleet would be stuck above Tau Primia. All of this was just making Megan's headache worse, and she decided to try and stop blaming herself.

When she entered the sanitation room, she noticed the closed off shower cubicles, and she headed to one of them. Inside one of the cubicles, she dumped a pair of replicated civilian clothes onto a shelve sticking out of the wall. Right at the end of the cubicle was a shower unit. After checking that the cubicle door was closed, Megan removed her uniform, knowing that this would be the last time she ever wore it.

It stunk to high heaven, and when Megan had removed all of her filthy and tainted clothing, did she feel free. She dumped it all on one corner of the room, and eyed it with disgust. Then she moved over to the shower head, and stood directly beneath it. Inputting some commands on the small console that regulated the heat and flow of the water, Megan set the shower to pour hot water at the maximum flow rate.

She pressed another command, and then the water jetted out of the shower head. The sensation was wondrous, as it wetted her hair, and the water ran down her body, getting into every pore. It felt like everything horrible was washing away from her. In that moment Megan felt reborn again; she was now free, and she was never ever going to be tortured again in that prison.

The feeling of freedom overwhelmed her, and she cried out tears of both pain and joy. She literally sobbed her heart out, and dredged out the very depths of her anguish and despair...

After finally cleaning herself, Megan got into her new clothes, and then left the sanitation room not willing to even touch her former dirty clothes thrown against one corner of a cubicle. To feel clean and wear fresh clothes was so alien to Megan, and that sensation grew when she entered the quarters she had been assigned to.

Megan whiled away her time just sitting down on the lower part of the bunk bed, and constantly going through the memories she had of Tau Primia prison. She did not want to do anything else as her new found freedom was very overwhelming. When the door chime went off, Megan straightened up in a instinctive motion, and the back of her head made contact with the upper bunk bed.

Her head hurt but so used to pain was Megan that she simply ignored this, and she then remembered that she did not have to get up onto her feet. This was not Tau Primia prison anymore, and there was no Cardassian guard behind the door…

"Come in!" said Megan after a few seconds of silence.

The door parted sideways revealing Ezri, and Megan then stood up to look presentable. "Captain I-"

"At ease Ms Felpes," said Ezri casually, and only when Megan had sat down did Ezri continue. "I'm just coming around to check on how you are holding up."

Megan smiled bitterly to herself; there was going to be a lot of this, and a lot of 'concerned' people looking out for her. "Your concern for me is touching, but it isn't warranted."

"Why?" asked Ezri sounding surprised by Megan's glum tones.

All the guilt Megan was feeling exploded out of her, and she looked at Ezri torturously. "It's my fault the Tren attacked the Defiant and the fleet, if I hadn't given to you my advice-"

"I took a calculated gamble and it backfired," said Ezri firmly, cutting over Megan's moping. "The Tren are solely to blame for this, they attacked us, so how can you blame yourself for their hostile actions?"

"You don't know how easy it is for me to blame myself... I've felt so guilty for so many years and you end up hating what you have become."

Ezri looked at Megan with considerable sympathy, and she then pulled up a chair, placing it directly in front of Megan. Sitting down, Ezri continued to give Megan that same sympathetic expression.

"When I was much younger I was a counsellor, and I can understand why you hate yourself and why you suppress your pain and guilt. Being tortured is a terrible thing and-"

Anger built up inside of Megan, as her patience was wearing thin with Ezri trying to comfort her. "You can never understand what I and the crew of the Liberty went though in that prison! Have you ever been tortured captain?"

"No," said Ezri, and she looked a little lost for words.

"Then you will never understand," hissed Megan, and her voice became louder, "it is as simple as that! So don't give me that counsellor bullshit!"

Ezri simply raised her eyebrows at Megan's foul language, and a split second later Megan realised what she had just said. She suddenly placed her hands over her mouth, and looked totally horrified by her slip of the tongue.

"I'm so sorry," whispered Megan, and she found the courage to lower her hands. "I didn't mean to swear at you like that, the words just came tumbling out of my mouth."

"That's okay..." said Ezri placatingly, and she was no longer giving Megan such a dubious look.

"No it isn't..." moaned Megan. "I'm a Starfleet officer, and Starfleet officers don't swear in front of their captains!"

A small amount of calm crept into Megan's mind; Ezri was not angry. This made Megan come to her senses, and she started thinking about other matters she had to discuss with Ezri. And then a rather important issue came to Megan's attention.

"When I was in sickbay I seem to recall your chief medical officer telling me that he removed a neural depolarizer from my head, and something about Section 31. Just what is going to happen to me?"

The understanding look on Ezri's face disappeared, and indeed she appeared to be carefully considering her words. "There is going to be an investigation regarding the Liberty's disappearance, but you have nothing to worry about."

"Despite the neural depolarizer?" asked Megan.

"Well that complicates matters, but it will not make you a suspect in the investigation."

"Suspect?"

"This is a serious investigation, someone from your ship beamed down to Tau Primia and tried to assassinate Bordak. For we all know that person is either dead or one of the Liberty survivors. But that is about all I can say... Forgive me, but I must return back to the bridge."

Appearing a bit awkward, Ezri made a hasty departure out of Megan's quarters, leaving Megan with some very horrible memories to deal with.

Somehow Megan knew who tried to assassinate Bordak, but she could not put her finger on it. So she cast her mind back to that last fateful mission working with Jack. They were surveying the Tau Primia prison, but what went wrong? How did the Cardassians track her and Jack down to that mesa?

There was a clear memory gap and some part of Megan did not want to know what those missing memories contained. But she had to know, and it was not part of her nature to hide from the truth or conceal it…

And then it came to her so vividly that she gasped out aloud. It was Jack who tried to assassinate Bordak. This made Megan reel in shock, for all that time she had depended upon Jack as her only source of comfort in that ghastly prison. Now the one person she really cared for, was the one who ultimately condemned her to rot in that place. Megan just burst into tears as she comprehended Jack's action.

More memories came flooding back to her and these were her earliest memories of the Tau Primia prison. She recalled arguing intensely with Jack during the times when they were not sharing a cell with Haydra. So bad had been their rows that at the time they utterly gutted Megan and made her lose hope.

Those were her darkest days, when every moment of her life was a living hell. But she had only survived because she buried the memory of Jack's betrayal. Now that she did remember, Megan was faced with a horrible choice; either tell the truth and expose Jack, or remain silent and try to protect him. She did not know what to do except curl up on her bed and cry her eyes out…

* * *

Back on Tau Primia, Bordak was inside Gilsa's shuttlecraft, sitting down on a seat in the cockpit. For a shuttlecraft, the cockpit was quite spacious, with a dull blue coloured interior and sturdy black seats. The regrets and sorrows of Bordak's past still haunted him, though perhaps when he was a Vizorian those regrets and sorrows would vanish.

He heard a compartment door open and swivelled around on the chair to face Gilsa. "Why such a long face Gilsa?" he asked in a taunting manner.

Gilsa looked furiously towards Bordak. "If it were me, I would have let the Tren deal with you!" he spat out. "You nearly killed Megan, and you expect me to turn a blind eye?"

"She is alive, that is all you wanted," replied Bordak, sounding uncaring. "The Tren are gone, and she is safe in the clutches of the interfering Federation. I've kept up my end of the arrangement."

"You barely kept to the arrangement," reminded Gilsa while he sat down upon the seat. "Fine I'll take you back to Vizorian space, and I'll arrange for you a new identity and a Kuvi transplant. But I'm warning you, VSSOA will be monitoring what you get up to, so don't you try anything stupid..."

Bordak bowed his head mockingly while still facing Gilsa. "Why I thank you for your fairness Gilsa and your honesty. I half expected you to have me arrested on the spot for what I did to Megan."

"You're getting off slightly Bordak," warned Gilsa, his hands moving over a console. "But if you ever have the misfortune of meeting me again well..."

"It wouldn't be pretty put it that way," he added rather fiercely.

Bordak turned round to face the front of the cockpit and he rested his arms against the chair's headrest, grinning to himself. He did not care how Gilsa felt about his brutal treatment of Megan, she deserved to be punished, and Bordak was certain that he had mentally scarred Megan permanently. She would never be the same again, and she would be forever haunted by his cruelty and sadism...

* * *

Day 9, 2230 hours

Ezri rested her fatigued body on the command chair in the Defiant's bridge, and her gaze drifted beyond the sights offered by the viewscreen. So many ships and personnel had been lost, and there was still no word from Gul Ackaron. Ezri feared the worse and she felt horribly certain that the Tren ship had defeated all of the Cardassian ships.

Her first command of the Defiant had not gone smoothly, seven crew members had died and the Defiant had incurred a tremendous amount of damage. But close to a thousand prisoners had been freed, and overall the mission was a success though at a high price.

"We're being contacted by the Cardassian flagship," said Max, "it's president Garak!"

"On screen!" said Ezri a bit wearily, as she wondered what on Trill she was going to say to Garak.

On the viewscreen appeared Garak's somewhat apprehensive face. "Captain, why so few ships? And where are the Cardassian ships?"

Sitting up more straightly on the chair, Ezri then answered Garak's questions. "The fleet managed to destroy Bordak's ships, capture the Tau Primia prison, and free 1200 prisoners. However a Tren ship turned up, and threatened to destroy the fleet if we did not stay put, and wait for Tren reinforcements to arrive."

"What did you do afterwards?" asked Garak, who was following Ezri's every word very closely.

"I called the Tren's bluff..." said Ezri heavily, and she could not stop her expression from turning weary. "They were not bluffing, and a battle ensued. Three Starfleet and two Bajoran ships were destroyed, with the loss of all crews and two hundred prisoners. Gul Ackaron contacted me, and said that his ships would hold off the Tren vessel, and that the Starfleet and Bajoran ships should leave Tau Primia immediately."

"Did you receive any transmission from Gul Ackaron, after you left Tau Primia?"

"There was nothing, and I fear the Tren may have destroyed all the Cardassian ships. Without the sacrifice Ackaron made, I would not be here talking to you."

"The Tren..." said Garak angrily, and he was taking the apparent loss of the Cardassian ships very hard. "It seems we have severely underestimated them and their weaponry... What about Bordak, was he captured?"

"He managed to escape," said Ezri, trying to put a good gloss on it, "and I have no idea where he has gone to."

"Escaped?" exclaimed Garak, and his eyes became even more staring. "Captain I would ask for a meeting today to discuss these matters in depth, however I know your ship and other Federation ships are damaged and you have wounded. Would it be possible to arrange a meeting on your station tomorrow?"

"I thank you for your thoughtfulness," replied Ezri, and for the first time she felt a bit of respect for Garak. "And yes, a meeting can be arranged tomorrow, say at 1100 hours?"

"Agreed... Garak out."

The moment the comm channel closed did a silence envelop the bridge, but it was soon punctuated by Kira's voice.

"I didn't think Garak was capable of such sentiment."

At first Ezri expected to hear a cynicism in her first officer's voice, but there was a subtle gentleness to it. "Thousands of Cardassian lives have been lost because of this operation... I only hope the sacrifice Ackaron made does help to foster better diplomatic relations between the Cardassians and the Federation..."

* * *

Odo sat at his office desk reading a security report, but his mind was drifting somewhere else. He felt so worried for Kira; the mission she was involved in had a considerable amount of danger to it, and his only comfort was that he knew Kira could look after herself.

He checked his chronometer, it was 2255 hours and near the end of his shift. Giving what little time there was left he decided to end the shift, five minutes early, and he returned to his quarters. The station lighting was dimmer in after hours, and as Odo walked down the corridors the dim white lights seemed to emulate his mood.

Aside from missing Kira, Odo had this constant niggling worry over whether Kira had been killed. It was an awful feeling for him, it felt like a massive weight stuck in his midriff. Another worry for him was how his children would hold up if Kira died. Odo especially worried for Mia, right now Mia was going through a very trying time in her life. Losing her mother would only add to Mia's suffering.

When he arrived the quarters were quiet, and Odo entered Mia's and then Deru's bedroom. Both Mia and Deru were sound asleep and looked perfectly content. Odo gazed at each child briefly and wished he felt as content as them. After some moments of watching, he then returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa. All the while he hoped that Kira would return soon.

He had lost count of how many minutes went by when the door to his quarters opened. Standing up, he saw Kira walk into the room. She looked really tense and grim, and when Kira looked into Odo's eyes, he saw a faint trace of rage linger in her eyes, and this was something Odo rarely saw in Kira.

Walking over towards Kira, Odo then gave her a hug, while he wondered what could have possibly enraged Kira so much. The two then kissed and after a moment they let go. Odo held both of Kira's hands, and he was glad to see his wife's expression became somewhat lighter.

Still holding hands they sat down on the sofa. Kira rested her head and upper body upon Odo's chest, and Odo put an arm around her chest to make Kira feel warm and comfortable.

"Am I glad to be back with you," said Kira softly.

"How was the mission?" whispered Odo.

"It was horrible Odo," said Kira in a flat voice. "I don't think I will ever forget the look on the prisoner's faces. They looked like trapped beaten animals, devoid of their paghs. It reminded me too much of the liberation of the Gallatep mining camp, the faces were the same, virtually the exact same. And the smell... It just made me realise how much I once hated Cardassians, and in that prison I felt like that young woman I matured from. I had this raw anger inside of me, and I wanted revenge, revenge on Gul Bordak and the monstrosities he inflicted on those prisoners!

"I managed to track him down, not after he stabbed this poor woman to near death! Megan Felpes she was called... And you know what that psychotic bastard did? He laughed his head off to see Felpes laid out on the floor, dying and with the blood oozing out of her body. I tell you Odo, at that moment I came so close to simply shooting Bordak and to hell with the consequences. But something stopped me killing him, and that was probably my maturity shining through.

"Every part of the mission was bad; from Bordak's ships ambushing the fleet and destroying a couple of Bajoran warships. To rescuing the prisoners, and finally to top things off, the Tren decided to attack and nearly wiped us all out! The Tren had to be working with Bordak, and if they can work with scum like that, then their reputation is even lower than what I first thought of them! How I managed in that prison I have no idea, I was just driven by hate and that just brought back more memories of the resistance..."

Finally Kira paused, and Odo could literally feel her fume against him. "But you got through it," he eventually told her, "you always come through these situations. These bad feelings will pass with time."

Kira though just shook her head. "The intensity of them ebbs but it never goes away, it just lingers on as deep-seated regrets. Sometimes though it just hits you right in the face, and going inside that prison did just that and more! I've barely slept these last few nights, because I just get nightmares about the occupation and then of Tau Primia and Gul Bordak."

"What sort of nightmares?" said Odo gently, as he wondered just how much Kira was going to reveal to him.

"The sort of nightmare when you're trapped in a horrible situation and there is nothing you can do to prevent it. All of this just makes me thank the Prophets even more, for having you as a husband and our two children..."

"I'm glad for what we have as well..." murmured Odo, and he held onto Kira a bit more tightly. "Why not go to bed and try to get some sleep?"

"I don't feel like sleeping," said Kira in cantankerous tones, and she turned her head around to give Odo an angry look. "I just want to talk..."

"I'm listening..." said Odo soothingly.

Kira then went on to explain in more detail about the prison camp and Bordak. Odo knew it must have been hard for Kira, seeing such ghastly sights which once belonged in her past. He just let his wife keep on talking as he knew that Kira just wanted him to listen. Many a time Kira sounded angry, and at one point, she ranted on about Gul Bordak.

Finally after an hour or so, Odo realised that Kira had stopped talking, and that she had fallen asleep. He was overdue for reverting into his gelatinous state, so he got up, careful not to disturb Kira, and he then carried her back to their bedroom. Once she was laid down and resting peacefully on their bed, Odo got in and gradually reverted back to his gelatinous state. Kira of course was completely comfortable with this, and that was one of the things Odo liked about Kira; she accepted him for what he truly was.

As he resided in his restive state, he continued to think about his relationship with Kira. If she had died during that mission, then Odo was not sure what he would have done. Kira meant more to Odo than anything, even the Great Link. If he had never loved Kira, then he would have stayed with his people forever and more than likely become a Founder.

* * *

It was late in the night, and Megan left the Defiant accompanied by Max. The two had not spoken to each other, save for Max telling her that he would be showing Megan to her quarters. Megan appreciated Max's thoughtfulness and ever since he had rescued her, Max had been nothing but polite and helpful.

However Megan's only comfort was being in Max's presence. She did not like walking through these station corridors, the lighting and architecture were too similar to that of the Tau Primia prison, and Megan had to keep reminding herself that this was Deep Space Nine.

Finally Megan could no longer keep quiet her discomfort about the station's appearance. "Do you ever get used to the Cardassian architecture?"

"You do," said Max fondly. "It can be rather visually appealing to the eye."

"I've seen too much of Cardassian architecture in that evil prison."

Max chose to ignore this comment and he only spoke again when he reached the outside of Megan's quarters. "We're here," he said, and he opened the door.

In a courteous gesture, Max let Megan inside, and very slowly Megan entered the room, staring around at the décor, the furniture, the walls, the carpet, ceiling, windows and the lighting.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Max was smiling in a rather satisfied way.

"Both the bedroom and bathroom are to the left," said Max, and Megan's eyes glanced at everything which Max pointed to. "While the replicator is to the right of this room. If you need anything, you can activate the comm system from the panel to the left of the replicator. "

Max turned around, and saw Megan's almost petrified expression. "Ms Felpes?"

"It's so big, so luxurious!" said Megan in a quiet voice.

"Luxurious?" said Max, sounding a bit confused. "These are just your standard sized quarters for one person."

"If you spend two years in a cramped, dirty and smelly prison cell you will find anything like this to be luxurious. It is a bit overwhelming..."

"You are getting used to freedom, it must seem like such an amazing thing."

"It is," said Megan with absolute sincerity, and as her emotions built up inside of her, she felt her eyes go watery.

Max must have seen this, because he looked rather awkward to be in Megan's presence. "I'll give you some privacy Ms Felpes."

Right now Megan did not want privacy, she wanted someone to talk to, a friend if you will and Max seemed to her the perfect candidate. "Erm Max..."

"Yes?" he said, turning around while close to the door.

For the first time, Megan actually smiled, it was a weak smile, but a smile none the less. "Thank you for saving me, you were the first friendly face I've seen in years."

Max appeared rather uplifted to hear that. "If you ever need anything or just want to talk, contact me."

"I'll do that…"

"Well..." said Max, who looked as if he had worn out his stay. "Well erm... bye."

Megan felt a bit tongue tied around Max, and by the time she had said a indistinct goodbye, Max had already left her quarters. To her embarrassment, she realised she was shy around Max but then social interaction would not come easily to her after everything that she had suffered from.

Slowly she turned around and stared at the living room, until her eyes came upon the sofa. Rather cautiously she approached it, and she had forgotten what it felt like to sit down on a comfortable chair. Finally she lowered herself down, and the softness and apparent warmth of the chair's padding surprised Megan.

This new-found creature comfort was so simple and yet it felt so amazing. It was another one of those new found freedoms, and it made her emotions swirl around in turmoil. The memories of her past and recent present simply overwhelmed her as all of this was so much to take in. Megan never realised until now that the initial stages of the healing process were just as painful as all of her bad memories combined…

More tears welled in her eyes, and over the last few days, Megan had cried more in this small space of time than in any other period of her life. To think that people took such simple things as accommodation, showers, replicators and even comfortable chairs for granted, astounded her…

* * *

Day 10, 0900 hours

It was with a heavy heart when Ezri decided to contact Megan's Felpes mother, Sarah, via subspace. Already Ezri had contacted some of the relatives of five of the Liberty survivors, and those had been some heart-moving conversations. The people Ezri spoke to had the same similar reaction of finding out their loved one was indeed alive; first it was joy and then horror upon hearing about the Tau Primia prison.

From checking Megan's personal file, Ezri found out that Megan's only relative was her mother. So it was clear that Sarah would be more protective for her only child, and the conversation Ezri was going to have with Sarah would not be pleasant…

Ezri waited by her desk, and was sat comfortably in her chair, writing reports. When the computer told her that a subspace comm link had been established, Ezri disregarded the padd she was working on and focused her attention on the laptop.

She pressed a command and the transmission was displayed on the laptop's screen. It showed a middle aged woman, sitting down on her bed, and with her thin face, brown eyes, and long brown hair. Sarah looked like the spitting image of her daughter.

"To whom am I speaking to?" she said.

"Captain Ezri Dax of Starfleet, commander of Deep Space Nine. Ms Felpes I am contacting you because we have found your daughter."

"You've found Megan..." said Sarah hoarsely, and her eyes lit up with hope. "Where?"

"In a prison on Tau Primia," replied Ezri, and she forced herself to keep her voice as calm as possible. "A joint operation between the Cardassians and the Federation resulted in the capture of the Tau Primia prison, the rescuing of over 1200 prisoners, your daughter being one of them."

"Is she alive?" asked Sarah with considerable urgency. "Is she hurt or..."

Sarah's eyes then narrowed in concern. "You said she was a prisoner?"

"That is something I need to discuss with you about," replied Ezri. "Firstly your daughter is alive, and now healthy-"

"What do you mean 'now healthy'?" said Sarah angrily. "What happened to her in that prison?"

"She has been in the prison for two years, and it appears the Cardassians tortured her on numerous occasions. To answer your first question, an away team found Megan severely injured from multiple stab wounds. The prison's prefect, Gul Bordak, had attacked her, however Megan was taken back to the Defiant and the doctors healed all of her wounds."

The reaction from Sarah was instantaneous, she now looked horribly worried and upset. "Oh God, oh God..." she miserably exclaimed.

Closing her eyes for a bit, Sarah appeared to compose herself. "Where is my daughter?"

"She is on this station," said Ezri.

"Right that does it!" said Sarah firmly. "I'm taking the first high-warp transport ship leaving from Earth, and heading straight to the station."

Ezri admired Sarah's devotion to her daughter, but she did not feel Sarah grasped the magnitude of Megan's woes. "Please understand that Megan has gone through horrendous conditions, and emotionally she is extremely... fragile. Any reunion with her is going to be difficult..."

This did not deter Sarah in the slightest, indeed she looked more determined than ever to see her daughter. "No matter what state my daughter is in, I'm visiting her and nothing will deter me!"

"I'm sorry to have to be the bearer of such grim news Ms Felpes-"

"Megan is alive!" cut in Sarah, and she did not sound angry at Ezri in the slightest. "It is a miracle that you found her alive, and I want to thank you captain for telling me something I've so badly wanted to hear. For all this time I've been wondering what has happened to my daughter, not knowing was agonising for me. Finally I have some closure!"

"Once being a mother myself, I know what it feels like to worry and fret over ones children."

There was a clear understanding in Sarah's eyes upon hearing this, and Ezri felt the two were sort of like on the same wavelength. With nothing more to say, and giving Sarah's calm reaction, Ezri decided to end the conversation. "Good day to you Ms Felpes, Dax out."

Ezri closed the comm link, and she was very impressed by how well Sarah took the news regarding Megan. Then again perhaps Sarah was simply acting strong, and Ezri knew that Sarah was more deeply affected than she let on. At least Ezri did not feel so bad about the conversation, unlike a couple of the ones beforehand, where some of the prisoner's relatives just completely broke down…


End file.
